Obama requests modest bump in foreign aid
The Obama administration released its fiscal 2014 budget last Wednesday, totalling $52 billion in foreign assistance and support funding, a slight increase from this current fiscal year. In the document, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted foreign assistance is a strategic imperative for America — not charity or a favour.
As expected, the budget, which will face the daunting task of passing through the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold the majority, contains some proposed overhauls to the way the United States administers foreign humanitarian aid. The delivery of food aid, for instance, would look different, channelled more effectively and swiftly into three programs, including a planned $75 million emergency food assistance fund. The proposed transition is being backed by large international humanitarian groups like CARE and Oxfam International.
In light of the killings last September in Benghazi of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and two members of his staff, the budget for embassy security will increase by 55 percent, or almost 900 million dollars. Contributions to international peacekeeping are slated to rise by nearly 10 percent, in part due to anticipated costs of a U.N. presence in Mali and Syria, as well as a new African Union mission in Somalia.
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