Demonstrating U.S. leadership and protecting our national security through development and humanitarian assistance
The Biden-Harris Administration today released the President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The President's budget request for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of State includes $42.8 billion for foreign assistance, which includes $28.3 billion for USAID fully funded and partially managed accounts. This level of funding will directly support U.S. development and provide continued investment in global challenges such as climate change, food security, strengthening democracy, and health.
To mark the launch of the President's FY 2025 Budget Request, Administrator Samantha Power released the following statement:
In the face of pressing global challenges, the President's FY 2025 Budget requests both mandatory and discretionary resources USAID needs to address these challenges head-on. As historic levels of conflict and climate-driven disasters continue to wreak havoc - with the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance rising by a third since 2022 - these resources will help USAID to stem crises, invest in stability, and advance human dignity in communities around the world. As autocrats continue to attack democracies, these resources will help us bolster democratic systems and partners that value openness, transparency, and freedom. And as countries around the world face severe economic headwinds - with 70 low- and middle-income countries in or near debt distress - these resources will allow us to work with countries to improve economic health and drive growth that benefits the entire global economy.
Nations continue to look to the United States for leadership. The security, prosperity, and well-being of the American people relies on us maintaining that faith and trust.
The Budget Request makes critical, targeted investments that will promote greater prosperity for decades to come and will help secure our national security. The USAID Budget Request will:
- Sustain U.S. Leadership in Humanitarian and Stabilization Assistance. To respond to and mitigate the world's extraordinary levels of humanitarian need, the Budget Request includes $10.3 billion for humanitarian assistance ($6.3 billion in USAID fully and partially managed accounts), in addition to the funds requested in the Administration's October Supplemental request. This funding will empower USAID to continue providing assistance to ongoing emergencies in Sudan, Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Middle East, as well as confront new and emerging crises and natural disasters. On average, USAID responds to 75 crises across 65 countries each year.
- Address Food Security Challenges. Food security is a critical component of the Administration's ability to reduce global poverty. The Budget Request includes $1.2 billion, of which USAID will manage $1.1 billion. This request prioritizes the 20 focus countries of Feed the Future and will continue to target systems-level changes to promote more resilient and sustainable agricultural productivity.
- Boost Economic Resilience Through Private Sector Engagement and Digital Development. The Budget Request includes $2.2 billion in USAID fully and partially managed accounts for core economic growth programming, including $50 million for USAID's EDGE Fund. This fund is designed to quickly secure matching funding to our Missions to unlock private sector funds and unleash outsized impacts on global development challenges and support the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI). The Request also includes $500 million for digital development, including $90.9 million in direct funding for USAID - a five-fold increase above the FY 2023 estimate - to support digital development programming that builds on the Agency's existing work to meet the urgency and magnitude of the national security and development challenges in the digital age. Additionally, the Request includes $250 million in discretionary funding for the PGI Fund; and $4.1 billion in State and USAID programming across the globe in priority sectors, including climate and energy sector, health security, digital connectivity, gender equity, transportation and agriculture.
- Invest in the Indo-Pacific Region. The Request includes $2.1 billion to accelerate an affirmative vision for the Indo-Pacific that is defined by U.S. values and advances a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient region. Additionally, the request includes $2 billion in mandatory funding over five years for the State Department and USAID to support our economic strategy in the region, which includes making Indo-Pacific economies more connected and resilient.
- Support Outcompeting the People's Republic of China (PRC). The request includes $400 million across the Department of State and USAID for the Countering PRC Influence Fund to address specific, problematic PRC behaviors globally, as well as increase the ability of U.S. partners and allies worldwide to deter PRC aggression. The request also includes $2 billion over five years for the new International Infrastructure Fund in the mandatory funding request.
- Champion Global Health and Global Health Security. To sustain the leadership role of the United States to advance global health, the Budget Request includes $4 billion for USAID to combat infectious diseases, prevent child and maternal deaths, bolster nutrition, control the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and prevent future infectious disease outbreaks from becoming national or global emergencies. The Request includes $20 million for the Administration's Global Health Worker Initiative to enhance global efforts to better train, equip, and protect the health workforce, and $30 million in new funding for the World Bank's Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents, to leverage at least $210 million to strengthen health systems globally.
