Statement by Administrator Samantha Power on the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget

Demonstrating Our Values and Protecting Our National Security Through Development and Humanitarian Assistance

Today, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris submitted the President’s Budget Request for FY 2024 to Congress. The President’s budget request for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of State includes $32 billion for USAID fully- and partially-managed accounts – money that will help equip the Agency to respond to complex emergencies, invest in lasting food security, address rising inequality, and promote equitable economic growth and inclusive development.

To mark the launch of the President’s FY 2024 Budget Request, Administrator Samantha Power released the following statement: 

As Putin’s unprovoked assault on Ukraine drags into its second year, USAID will continue to provide emergency supplies like food, clean water, and power generators to communities, support Ukrainian businesses, and fund human rights organizations documenting Putin’s war crimes. As Putin’s invasion and climate change further exacerbate the global food crisis, we will continue to help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa resist drought, providing seeds, fertilizer, and climate-resilient technology and farming techniques. And as democracy remains under attack around the world, the Budget will enable USAID to further help communities fight for their unalienable rights – helping build transparent institutions free of corruption; bringing women, young people, and historically marginalized communities to the polls; and training journalists to counter hate speech and discrimination around the world. 

In these extraordinary times, the FY 2024 President’s Budget requests both mandatory and discretionary resources to out-compete China, strengthen the U.S. role in the Indo-Pacific, and advance American prosperity globally through new investments. 

As one of the core pillars of American leadership and power, our global development efforts work in tandem with defense and diplomacy to advance our interests and values abroad. But in a world that is increasingly interconnected – where viruses can cross oceans, regional wars have ripple effects, and economic collapse in one country can devastate another – this work is also critical to promoting the welfare and dignity of the American people. It is in America’s best interest to help feed the world, to help protect fellow democracies, to advocate for the dignity of all people – not only to reflect an America that is generous, compassionate, and moral, but also to protect the safety and prosperity of the American people. 

The FY 2024 Budget Request reflects the importance of our work to the Biden-Harris Administration’s objectives – and the resources that are needed to benefit communities abroad as well as right here at home.

The Budget makes critical, targeted investments that will promote greater prosperity and economic growth for the American people and for our partners and allies for decades to come. At USAID and the State Department, the Budget will: 

• Sustains U.S. Leadership in Humanitarian Assistance and Food Security. To respond to the unprecedented global levels of humanitarian need, the Budget requests more than $10.5 billion in humanitarian assistance ($6.5 billion through USAID-administered accounts) to respond to an average of 75 crises annually in more than 65 countries, including Ukraine and Syria, new and emerging crises, and natural disasters. The Budget also requests $1.11 billion for USAID-managed Feed the Future programs to address the global food crises resulting from Putin’s unprovoked war on Ukraine and the ongoing impacts of climate change. 
• Prioritize Developing Economies and Strengthening Democracies. To support economic resilience and private sector engagement, the Budget requests $60 million for the new Enterprises for Development, Growth, and Empowerment (EDGE) Fund, an innovative effort to unlock and unleash outsized private sector impacts on global development challenges. The Budget also requests funding for “Bright Spot” countries experiencing promising and recent democratic openings. To continue our work to combat democratic backsliding and rampant authoritarianism, the Budget requests $2.8 billion in USAID fully-or-partially managed accounts to foster democratic governance, counter corruption, and deliver on our commitments under the Summit for Democracy and the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal.
• Out-Compete China. To build economic systems durable against PRC manipulation, the Budget requests $4.0 billion over five years in mandatory funding to invest in strategic, high-quality, “hard” international infrastructure globally, and to boost connectivity, improve supply chains, and ensure resilient economic growth and more transparent, rules-based economic systems in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Invest in the Indo-Pacific Region and Counter Malign Influence. This funding is in addition to the Budget’s request of $3.2 billion for the Indo-Pacific and $400 million for the State-USAID Countering PRC Influence Fund that will be used to fund a wide variety of new programming worldwide to resist the PRC government’s malign authoritarian model while advancing our own affirmative global development agenda.
• Champion Global Health and Global Health Security. To reaffirm the historic U.S. global health leadership role, the Budget requests $10.9 billion, of which $4.1 billion is for USAID-managed accounts, to combat infectious diseases, prevent child and maternal deaths, bolster nutrition, control the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and provide dedicated funding to support and protect the global health workforce through the President’s Global Health Worker Initiative. Funding will support strengthening health systems and global health security to better prevent, detect, and respond to future infectious disease outbreaks. 
• Revitalize the USAID Workforce. We are only able to do this work with a strong workforce. In light of this, the Budget includes $2.3 billion to invest in a direct hire workforce and operations that advances critical foreign assistance programs and ensures accountability of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

For more information on the President’s FY 2024 Budget, please visit: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget.  

For more information on the USAID FY 2024 Budget please visit: www.usaid.gov/cj. 

For media inquiries, please contact press@usaid.gov.