WASHINGTON — The Trump administration can cut billions of dollars in foreign assistance funds approved by Congress for this year, a U.S. appeals court ruled.

In a 2-1 decision on Wednesday, the appellate panel reversed a Washington federal judge who found that U.S. officials were violating the Constitution’s separation of powers principles by failing to authorize the money to be paid in line with what the legislative branch directed.

The ruling is a significant win for President Donald Trump’s efforts to dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development and broadly withhold funding from programs that have fallen out of favor with his administration, regardless of how Congress exercised its authority over spending. Trump’s critics have assailed what they’ve described as a far-reachin

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