USAID Gets $808M in Operating Expenses
FrontLines - April 2009
By Ashtar Analeed Marcus
President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion budget
bill March 11 to run the federal government until the end of September, including $808 million
for USAID’s operational expenses in fiscal year 2009—an increase of $143 million over last year.
These funds will enable USAID to hire 300 new Foreign Service Officers as the Agency moves to double its FSO staff to more than 2,000 by 2012.
Global health and child
survival programs will receive $7 billion. USAID will receive $2 billion of that to strengthen and monitor public health internationally.
The State Department’s Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator will receive the other $5 billion for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment,
and care, 60 percent of which is carried out by USAID.
For USAID’s basic education programs, $700 million is available. Water and sanitation is now a $300 million initiative, including pumps, wells, water systems, and hygiene programs. Microenterprise loans—or small businesses—are allocated $245 million. International agriculture programs will receive $450 million.
Under the agriculture portion of the bill, there is $1.2 billion available in food aid. Disaster assistance is slated to receive $350 million, a $30 million increase since 2008, for famine detection and prevention and assistance during global natural disasters. Refugee assistance, which is handled by State, was allocated $971 million, an increase of $104 million.
The Peace Corps was assigned $350 million—$9
million more than in 2008. The program has 7,800 volunteers
in 76 countries.
One of the greatest decreases in budget was for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which received $875 million, a drop of $669 million from last year and $1.4 billion below the request.
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