US President Donald Trump has moved to cut nearly $5 billion of congressionally-approved foreign aid, the White House said Friday -- raising the likelihood of a federal shutdown as Democrats oppose the policy.

The $4.9 billion in cuts target programs of the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Trump wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives.

The president "will always put AMERICA FIRST," the White House Office of Management and Budget said on social media, releasing a copy of the letter.

Democrats have warned that any attempt to reverse funding already approved by Congress would doom negotiations to avoid budgetary paralysis, the so-called shutdown, later this year.

Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democratic minority in the US Sen

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