The United States is the world’s largest donor of development and emergency assistance. Much of the work is done by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, an independent government agency closely associated with the U.S. Department of State. Every crate of equipment, every bag of rice or box of medical supplies delivered by USAID is imprinted with the Agency’s logo: “From the American People.”
American generosity stems not only from a desire to help those who are struggling to overcome the devastation caused by a disaster, or a nation that may need just a little bit of help to take the next step toward a better future. In lending a helping hand, we hope to advance our vision for a free, open, secure, and prosperous international order.
But all that takes money, and a lot of it. In late May, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stood before the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee to justify to lawmakers the 58.8 billion dollars President Joe Biden requested for the State Department in next year’s budget.
To meet the challenges of our time, we need a fully sourced State Department budget, said Secretary of State Blinken. “We know that if we don’t get these problems on the take-off, we’re going to have to deal with them on the landing, but in much more costly and difficult ways.”
“The budget includes funding to address global issues that affect the lives and livelihoods of the American people as well as people around the world, especially the synthetic drug crisis,” he said. “It also funds our response to irregular migration, global food insecurity, public health, climate, and energy security.”
The fact is that “the need for our leadership and cooperation with allies and partners has never been greater,” said Secretary Blinken.
“Our leadership is needed to address humanitarian crises elsewhere around the world, including in Sudan; in Haiti, where millions have been displaced, many killed; and to address global issues that no country can solve alone, including food security, the changing climate, transnational corruption, and the fentanyl crisis.”
“We’ve made historic investments here at home in our competitiveness, in our innovation, in our infrastructure. We’ve renewed our alliances. We’ve built new ones. We’ve secured unprecedented alignment with key partners in Europe, in Asia, and beyond,” said Secretary Blinken.
These gains must be maintained. “An ounce of prevention is well worth more than a pound of cure.”
