International Affairs - FY 2010 Budget

Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Spokesman

Washington, DC

May 8, 2009

“Our priorities are clear. We are deploying the tools of diplomacy and development along with military power. We are securing historic alliances, working with emerging regional powers, and seeking new avenues of engagement. We are addressing the existing and emerging challenges that will define our century: climate change, weak states, rogue regimes, criminal cartels, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, poverty, and disease. We are advancing our values and our interests by promoting human rights and fostering conditions that allow every individual to live up to their God-given potential.”
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, April 22, 2009

The President’s FY 2010 International Affairs Budget for the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign affairs agencies provides the resources to renew America’s global leadership through diplomacy and foreign assistance that enhances our security, advances our interests, and reflects our values. This budget totals approximately $53.9 billion, including food aid:

• Foreign Operations and Related Agencies (including food aid): $36.7 billion
• Department of State: $16.3 billion
• Other International Affairs: $0.9 billion

The President’s budget proposal:

• Reflects the strong commitment of the President and the Secretary to increase the operational and programmatic capacity of the Department of State and USAID to fulfill their robust diplomatic and development missions, provides new resources to hire additional Foreign Service officers, and builds civilian capacity to surmount the challenges of today's world.
  
• Puts the United States Government on a path to double U.S. foreign assistance by 2015. This funding will help the world’s weakest states reduce poverty, combat global health threats, promote broad-based economic growth, govern peacefully and expand democracy worldwide.
  
• Supports the President’s strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan by requesting significant funding for non-military assistance to focus on countering the insurgency and improving good governance at the national and sub-national levels, especially in the south and east of Afghanistan and the frontier regions of Pakistan.
  
• Realigns U.S. assistance to Iraq to help responsibly end the war and enable Iraqis to assume more control of their country.
  
• Provides funding for key programs that advance U.S. foreign policy goals, including significantly increasing funding for programs that address global climate change, food security, basic education, health, poverty reduction, and the Peace Corps.
  
• Ensures that the United States Government continues to be the world’s leader in providing food aid and life-sustaining support for refugees, internally displaced persons, and other conflict and disaster victims.
  
• Responds to global security threats by increasing security, counterterrorism, and law enforcement assistance to critical partner nations as well as escalating funding for nonproliferation activities to secure nuclear material at vulnerable sites.
  
• Meets U.S. financial commitments to the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations that support a wide range of U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economic goals. Supports UN peacekeeping activities that help restore and maintain peace around the world.
  
• Provides full funding of all 2010 scheduled payments to the Multilateral Development Banks and a portion of the outstanding arrears to reinforce the U.S. commitment to play a leadership role in these institutions.
  
• Follows through on the President’s pledge to improve fiscal discipline and transparency by shifting funding for recurring programs, previously funded in supplemental appropriations, into the FY 2010 budget request.

Highlights of the Budget

Foreign Operations and Related Agencies:

Rebuilds Civilian Foreign Assistance Capacity

• $1.7 billion to strengthen USAID’s operational capacity, putting the Agency on a path to double its overseas Foreign Service Officer workforce by 2012 and meet the growing demand for development program oversight.
  
• $116 million to create new mechanisms that will enhance our ability to meet emerging needs – $40 million to create a Stabilization Bridge Fund that will provide immediate infusions into critical transition and stabilization programs and lessen the need for long-term deployments of military forces or peacekeepers; and $76 million to create a Rapid Response Fund that will respond quickly to unforeseen opportunities to address divisive issues and reconcile competing interests in new and fragile democracies.

Supports the President’s Strategies for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq

• $4.4 billion in assistance to support the President’s new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, including significant funding for non-military aid for both countries.
  
• $500 million for Iraq, continuing our realignment of U.S. assistance to help responsibly end the war, consolidate the security gains our troops have made, and enable Iraqis to assume more control of their country.

Provides U.S. Leadership on Global Issues

• $3.4 billion to address global food insecurity, including emergency and non-emergency food aid, funding for other emergency food security interventions such as local and regional purchase of food and cash transfer and voucher programs, nutrition for children, especially those under two, and assistance focusing on increasing agricultural production and productivity.
  
• $579 million of foreign assistance for climate change to globally promote the adoption of clean energy technology, help countries adapt to climate change, and encourage sustainable land and water management around the world.
  
• $7.6 billion for global health programs, including $5.6 billion for HIV/AIDS activities, $585 million to support malaria programs to reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in each of 15 priority countries, and increased funding for programs that address maternal and child health, family planning, tuberculosis (TB), and neglected tropical diseases. The FY 2010 global health budget reflects a comprehensive and integrated global health strategy.
  
• $981 million for basic education to help ensure that all learners, including at-risk and out-of-school youth, master basic skills.
  
• $2.1 billion to improve the ability to respond to humanitarian needs resulting from man-made and natural disasters as well as the needs of refugees and internally displaced persons.
  
• $1.4 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation to improve agricultural productivity, modernize infrastructure, expand private land ownership, improve health systems, and improve access to credit for small business and farmers.

Builds Global Security Capacity

• $8.4 billion in security, law enforcement, counterterrorism, and related assistance, of which, $5.3 billion is for Foreign Military Financing to the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Eurasia, including $2.8 billion for Israel and $1.3 billion for Egypt.
  
• $550 million to support the Mérida Initiative to combat the threats of drug trafficking, transnational crime, and terrorism in Mexico and Central America.
  
• $90 million to launch the new Shared Security Partnership, a new multi-year effort to help address the wide array of threats posed by terrorist organizations by building on previous law enforcement and counter-terrorist efforts to create a regional and global information-sharing and coordination infrastructure.

State Operations and Related Programs:

• $7.3 billion for the global operating platform for the U.S. Government, which includes:

o $280 million from all funding sources to leverage information technology.
o $520 million for public diplomacy to engage foreign audiences and win support for U.S. foreign policy goals.
o A total of 1,226 new positions to build Diplomatic capacity and expertise, including increasing training in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, and Urdu. The Department also would further increase its representation on interagency and Defense regional staffs, creating enhanced interagency planning and execution of coordinated U.S. foreign policy.

• $323.2 million for the Civilian Stabilization Initiative to develop a coordinated capacity across the U.S. Government to respond to stabilization and reconstruction needs. These resources will build civilian capacity, including capacity that draws on expertise outside the Federal Government, to work effectively, including alongside the military, in dealing with failed or failing states.
  
• $1.8 billion for security-related construction and major facility rehabilitation requirements of U.S. embassies and consulates.
  
• $1.7 billion in fee-funded activities, to improve protection of U.S. borders through the Border Security Program.
  
• $1.6 billion to increase security for diplomatic personnel and facilities worldwide.
  
• $633.2 million for educational and cultural exchanges to build strategic relationships through the exchange of people and ideas.
  
• $1.8 billion for U.S. obligations to 45 international organizations, including the United Nations.
  
• $2.3 billion to pay the U.S. share of assessments for UN peacekeeping missions.
  
• $262.1 million to support bilateral international commissions, Foreign Affairs foundations and research centers.

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