US Foreign Aid budget request for 2014 is more than $35 billion; Israel, Afghanistan top recipients
A recently published Congressional Research Service report reveals that the request for US foreign aid expenditures is more than $35 billion for the fiscal year 2014, a 1.5% increase from the FY2013 estimated funding.
The Foreign Operations budget funds most traditional foreign aid programs, including bilateral economic aid, multilateral aid, security assistance, and export promotion programs. It has not traditionally funded food aid. Funding for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operations is also part of the foreign operations budget.
USAID Administration will receive a bump of 8.3 % from 2013, Bilateral Economic Aid is up 2.9% and Multilateral Aid was up more than 13%.
Security Assistance dropped 6% from approximately $9 billion to $8.5 billion in the 2014 request.
The report states:
Many of the top 10 recipients of foreign assistance would be the same under the FY2014 request as in FY2012. The top recipient list is dominated by strategic allies in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, as well as top global health program recipients in Africa. Israel would continue to be the top U.S. aid recipient, at $3.1 billion, a $25 million increase over FY2012 funding. Afghanistan would again rank second among recipients, though with a slightly smaller allocation compared to FY2012. Iraq would drop out of the top five, with elimination of the Police Development Program driving a 55% funding cut, while Nigeria would move up to number five with a proposed allocation of $693 million, a 7% increase over actual FY2012 funding intended to bolster health and conflict prevention programs. Together, the top 10 recipients would account for about 37% of total bilateral economic and security assistance funds in the FY2014 budget proposal.
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