Foreign Assistance & the U.S. Budget
|
What We Spend:
The majority of U.S. foreign assistance is contained in the international affairs budget request through the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. This is also referred to as Function 150 or the “150 account”, and contains spending on global economic, diplomatic and humanitarian programs by the State Department (DOS), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) among others. The U.S. Global Leadership Campaign provides thorough updates on the status of 150 Account budget, including a summary of individual program, or “account,” allocations.
How We Decide: The U.S. budgetary process directly affects the monetary amounts allocated to U.S. foreign assistance programs each year. Understanding the negotiations from the administration’s request for foreign assistance funding to the final appropriations for a given program is crucial to understanding many of the challenges and limitations of the U.S. foreign assistance apparatus as it is currently constituted. The main steps in the budget appropriations process are as follows:
Each year, there are 11-12 appropriations bills which fall under the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committees of the House and the Senate. These Congressional committees control approximately 40% of federal spending each year, while the legislative committees control the remainder. The majority of foreign assistance funding falls under the jurisdiction of Appropriations Committees, and are therefore governed by this congressional appropriations process. What Would You Decide? Would you have guessed correctly the percentage of the Federal Budget allocated to foreign assistance programs? Do you know how much money the government allocates to programs that you care about? Test your knowledge of the budget and federal programming here. Then decide what you would do if you could spend the Federal Budget as you wished. Would it be better to run a deficit or to reallocate funds? Do you prefer to increase taxes or reduce spending outlays? How would you balance the equation to increase spending on foreign assistance programs?
1Compiled from data in the Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/ |
The International Affairs Budget enables a variety of programs worldwide that promote the security and values of the American people. This Budget helps to ensure long-term stability, fosters economic growth around the world, and reinforces a humanitarian ethos both domestically and abroad. The International Affairs Budget currently achieves all of these objectives for slightly more than 1% of the U.S. Federal Budget; in contrast current defense spending comprises almost 22% of the U.S. Federal Budget.
