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Thursday, January 17th, 2019

How Does the U.S. Spend Its Foreign Aid?

Author:     James McBride
Source:     Council on Foreign Relations
Publication Date:     October 1, 2018
 Link: How Does the U.S. Spend Its Foreign Aid?
Stephan:   I had a conversation the other day with a man whom I thought of as fairly sophisticated and discovered he didn't have clue about America's foreign aid. Then I went to a meeting and talked with a woman, and found neither did she. Both thought we, as a nation, spent a far larger percentage of our budget on foreign aid than is actually the case. It led me to think that very few people in the country really have any concept of the reality. So here is a well-grounded article that explains this issue. It was written before Mattis resigned but that has no effect on its accuracy. It also illustrates how Trump is destroying America's status in the world.

A woman carries a bag of rice distributed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Credit:Carlos Barria/Reuters

Introduction

President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly called for deep cuts to foreign assistance programs, raising pointed questions about the role the United States should play around the world.

There has long been broad bipartisan agreement on the moral and strategic significance of foreign aid. Aid levels rose sharply after the 9/11 attacks, with policymakers seeing global economic development as a way to promote U.S. national security.

Though aid remains a small percentage of the overall U.S. budget, some politicians and economists have criticized the spending as ineffective. Others have urged the United States to expand its international aid commitments.

What is foreign aid?

The current foreign aid system was created by the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, which attempted to streamline the government’s efforts to provide assistance around the world. The statute defines aid as “the unilateral transfers of U.S. resources by the U.S. Government to or for the benefit of foreign entities.” […]

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1 Comment

  1. John Alexander on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 7:20 am

    Most Americans, even well-educated ones, when asked about the money spent on foreign aid by the US Government will suggest it is about 15 percent of the budget. Totally clueless. Stephan is right about our decline on the global stage.