FY 2023 Budget Justification

The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Budget Request for the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is $60.4 billion, which includes $29.4 billion for USAID fully and partially managed accounts, $1.7 billion (6 percent) above the FY 2022 Request.

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Request is a reflection of the critical importance of development and humanitarian assistance in advancing US interests around the world. This Budget will advance USAID efforts to: Fight Transnational Corruption and Advance Democracy; Bolster Humanitarian Assistance; More Than Double Our Commitment to Women’s Empowerment, Equality, and Equity; Revitalize Our Workforce; Restore U.S. Climate Leadership; Address the Root Causes of Irregular Migration; and Reinforce Global Health Leadership.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FY 2023 PRESIDENT’S BUDGET REQUEST

FIGHT TRANSNATIONAL CORRUPTION AND ADVANCE DEMOCRACY

• Intensifies our fight against corruption by expanding independence, oversight, and sanctioning, while elevating and integrating anti-corruption across USAID programming. The request includes $100 million to support the USAID-implemented Anti-Corruption Initiative which oversees a holistic set of programs to connect, empower, and protect anti-corruption champions and reformers; strengthen partner countries’ ability to detect and prevent corruption and hold corrupt actors accountable; and curb transnational corruption and crime by exposing and disrupting the flow of illicit money, goods, and natural resources.
• Reinvigorates democracy, human rights, and governance to stem the tide of democratic backsliding and authoritarianism; expands programming to address corruption and corrosive capital; expands support for civil society and independent media; and broadens support for human rights and rule of law, while increasing engagement with multilateral partners. The foreign assistance request includes $2.6 billion for USAID fully and partially managed accounts in foreign assistance funding for democracy, human rights, and governance programming. This amount is part of the total USAID and Department of State forien assistance request for democracy of $2.9 billion.
• Provides tools to push back against digital repression and disinformation used by authoritarians to censor speech and stoke public anger against democratically-elected officials and civil society by promoting open, inclusive, and secure digital ecosystems to counter malign influences, advance internet freedom, and close digital divides. Also promotes the responsible use of digital technology and data to improve development and humanitarian assistance outcomes.

BOLSTER HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

• Provides critical humanitarian assistance to respond to unprecedented levels of need worldwide. The request provides nearly $10.5 billion in humanitarian assistance funding at USAID and State, including $6.4 billion in USAID-administered humanitarian assistance to respond to record-high humanitarian needs due to new and protracted conflicts around the world, increasingly frequent and more severe natural disasters, and the lingering effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
• Strengthens U.S. humanitarian leadership and maintains our ability to respond to an average of 75 disasters annually in more than 70 countries, including protracted crises such as Syria, Yemen, and the Venezuela regional crisis, new and emerging crises such as Ukraine and unexpected natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, and floods.

MORE THAN DOUBLE OUR COMMITMENT TO WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT, EQUALITY, AND EQUITY

• Supports the implementation of the National Strategy for Gender Equity and Equality through a historic request of $2.6 billion in joint USAID-State resources to uplift the role of women and girls in traditional USAID programming, including through programs that promote the political, economic and social empowerment of women and girls, recognizing their intersecting identities; advance efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence; and address gender discrimination and systemic inequities blocking the full participation of women and girls, men and boys, and individuals of other gender identities – all by integrating gender equality across a range of development, humanitarian and security assistance.
• Maintains the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund to advance women's economic security, including from marginalized and underserved populations, through holistic programming that promotes women’s economic and entrepreneurship opportunities, expands access to child, elder, and home care services and infrastructure, and addresses the systemic barriers to women’s economic participation, including gender-based violence.

REVITALIZE OUR WORKFORCE

• Invests in a U.S. direct-hire (USDH) workforce with funding at $1.7 billion that advances critical foreign assistance programs and ensures prudent accountability of tax-payer dollars. Supports human capital initiatives and information technology (IT) and the Global Development Partner Initiative ($111.5 million) which will significantly expand USAID’s permanent workforce.
• Supports the Global Development Partnership Initiative to ensure USAID has the right staff and necessary operational and management support for an effective and efficient workforce that furthers U.S. national security and Administration priorities, including the climate crisis, democracy and anti-corruption, global health security, and humanitarian assistance.
• Commits to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in Washington, D.C. and around the world through implementation of USAID’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan, and strengthened support for employees throughout the Agency.

RESTORE U.S. CLIMATE LEADERSHIP

• Increases USAID and State Programming to address the Climate Crisis to $2.3 billion. This includes over $1.6 billion in direct USAID and Department of State programming for climate mitigation and adaptation and over $650 million in programming across development sectors—including water, health and health security, and agriculture—that provides significant climate co-benefits. This level will more than double USAID implemented programs and dramatically expand the scale and geographic reach of USAID’s programs to increase climate action through investments in renewable energy and the conservation, restoration and management of land that captures and stores carbon.
• Fulfills U.S. commitments from 2021 UN Climate Change Conference to help countries meet their 2030 climate mitigation targets by limiting global warming to below 2°C, tripling U.S. adaptation funding to assist climate-vulnerable countries and contributing to attaining the $100 billion global goal of public climate investment.
• Builds on USAID’s comparative advantage by leveraging relationships at the local level, including private sector, civil society and local governments and supporting partner countries’ ability to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions and implement National Adaptation Plans and priorities.
• Generates creative solutions to encourage policy innovation and strengthen partner country capacity to accelerate breakthroughs in technologies and practices that promote climate resilience, natural climate solutions, advanced, reliable energy systems, and maximize resource efficiency.
• Expands climate change adaptation programming in line with the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) including increasing access to early warning systems and climate information, science and analysis, transforming and mobilizing adaptation finance, supporting locally-led adaptation actions and enhancing overall climate resilience of development programming.
• Demonstrates American commitment to fight the climate crisis by increasing investments in adaptation and resilience while promoting independence from non-renewable energy sources.

INVEST IN LOCALLY-LED DEVELOPMENT

• Strengthens USAID’s ability to partner with new, non-traditional and diverse actors, including local, faith-based, and community organizations; schools and hospitals; minority-serving institutions; foundations; diaspora communities; cooperatives; and volunteer organizations to address critical development and humanitarian challenges.
• Empowers local organizations through programs such as USAID’s localization initiative for northern Central America, Centroamérica Local, which mobilizes a range of local actors with knowledge and capacity to advance and sustain shared development goals. The Budget requests $47.6 million specifically for this initiative.
• Promotes transparent, sustainable investments that respond to countries’ needs, while respecting the environment and human rights.

ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSES OF IRREGULAR MIGRATION ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA

• Implements the Administration’s Root Causes Strategy (RCS) and Collaborative Migration Management Strategy (CMMS), requesting $987 million across USAID and State to continue meeting the President’s $4.0 billion, four-year commitment.
• Strengthens accountability by expanding programs focused on anti-corruption and human rights, underscoring our unwavering commitment to supporting civil society in its efforts to hold governments accountable to their citizens.
• Expands economic growth programming by providing support for micro-, small-, and medium sized enterprises; programs that foster entrepreneurship; agriculture interventions that enable farmers to increase yields and bring their goods to market; and workforce development focused on training at-risk youth in critical job skills and connecting them with employers.
• Tackles the long-term structural challenges and societal conditions by increasing programs to counter violence, including gender-based violence; provides a strong regional response to climate change; and builds resilience to natural disasters.

REINFORCE U.S. GLOBAL HEALTH LEADERSHIP

• Continues U.S. global leadership role in a sector with demonstrated success, built upon decades of investment, with a request of $3.96 billion to prevent child and maternal deaths, combat infectious diseases, and control the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
• Advances U.S. policy interests by protecting Americans at home and abroad, promoting social and economic progress, and supporting the rise of capable partners better able to solve regional and global health problems.
• Includes $745 million at USAID to prevent future epidemics and pandemics that threaten the lives of millions each year by building country capacity and resilience.
• Prevents child and maternal deaths and expands voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programming to better address the health and rights of women and girls and improve and expand access to high-quality, reproductive health care, including voluntary family planning services and information. These investments could save an additional five million children’s lives each year and help decrease the number of women who die annually from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
• Advances the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) which brings to scale a combination of proven malaria prevention and treatment approaches. The request of $780 million will contribute to a reduction in malaria deaths, prevention of malaria infections, and elimination of malaria in additional countries.
• Creates a Health Resilience Fund (HRF) with an initial investment of $10 million to support cross-cutting health systems strengthening in countries emerging from crisis. The HRF will prevent the loss of future global health development gains and strengthen key institutions and infrastructure to ensure countries are more resilient moving forward. Includes more than $600 million to maintain essential Global Health programming in areas including nutrition, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases.
• Provides $6.5 billion in additional mandatory Pandemic Preparedness funding, including $1.75 billion in USAID implemented resources, that will make transformative investments to better prevent, detect, and respond to pandemics, and to build a world safe and secure from biological threats including through investment in the global health workforce. This mandatory funding request is in addition to $29.4 billion requested in accounts fully or partially managed by USAID.