American President
Donald Trump’s first budget proposes 28% cuts to foreign aid through the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department, and
the United Nations.
The draft budget,
released on 16 March 2017, proposes continued support for the President’s Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and
to Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance). The aim to continue malaria and tuberculosis
(TB) prevention programs comes a week before World Tuberculosis Day celebrated
on 24 March each year.
Tuberculosis is now the fifth most
common cause of death globally, said the World Health Organization (WHO) on 13
October 2016 – below heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory infections, and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The WHO said that TB, an airborne
disease, had an estimated 10.4 million new cases in 2015 and killed 1.8 million
of them. For the second year in a row TB is the world’s top infectious disease
killer, surpassing HIV/AIDS. In 2015, about 1.1 million people died from
HIV/AIDS, with 400,000 of them co-infections of TB and HIV/AIDS.
The 2018 budget
requests $25.6 billion in funding for the Department of State and USAID, which
is a $10.1 billion reduction from the previous year. The draft budget includes
language indicating a closer relationship between the two departments, saying
the budget "recognizes the need for State and USAID to pursue greater
efficiencies through reorganization and consolidation in order to enable
effective diplomacy and development."
The draft budget does
allow for “significant funding of humanitarian assistance, including food aid,
disaster, and refugee program funding,” but no specific figures are provided.
The draft budget proposes eliminating the Emergency Refugee and Migration
Assistance account. The draft budget also includes capping contributions to
U.N. peacekeeping to no more than 25%.
The U.S. draft budget
proposes abolishing a number of independent agencies, including the U.S.
African Development Foundation; the U.S. Trade and Development Agency; the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC); and the United States Institute
of Peace (USIP).
There is yet to be a
debate in Congress about the level of the cuts to foreign aid, which may mean
that the budget is unlikely to pass in its proposed form. Senior Republicans,
such as Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and Senator Marco
Rubio, a Republican from Florida, may oppose severe cuts to the foreign aid
budget. Secretary-General António Guterres has called the proposed budget
"complex and lengthy."
The draft budget, which
is called “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again” has
asked for a $54 billion increase in defense spending. This budget is an outline
of his policy priorities and are recommendations for Congress, which ultimately
makes decisions about government spending. This proposed budget would take
effect on 1 October 2017, only after approval by Congress.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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