BY ANTHONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE
MARCH 11, 2024
The Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request released by the President today makes critical, targeted investments on behalf of the American people that will promote greater prosperity and economic growth for decades to come.
The President’s budget proposal will enable us to continue using our diplomacy, assistance, and accountability tools to advance our vision of a free, open, secure, and prosperous world and to deliver on the issues that matter most to the lives and livelihoods of the American people.
It is critical that the United States lead international efforts to shape the terms of our technological future; bolster economic, energy, food, and health security; counter synthetic drugs; and take ambitious action to mitigate the climate crisis and address irregular migration.
Each of these global challenges increasingly affects Americans at home, and the President’s Budget Request will allow us to address them on behalf of the American people.
At the Department of State and USAID, the Foreign Affairs Budget will:
Ensure Russia’s Strategic Failure in Ukraine by enabling Ukraine to protect its democracy and rebuild its economy. The FY 2025 Request of $482 million in foreign assistance, in addition to the Administration’s National Security Supplemental Request, reflects the depth of our commitment to securing the future of a free Ukraine – and more broadly, to European and Transatlantic security.
These funds provide essential assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defense, law enforcement and anti-corruption institutions; support reform efforts; boost the Ukrainian economy; investigate and prosecute war crimes; rebuild and protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure; and make Ukraine more independent of foreign donations. The vast majority of U.S. military assistance funds provided to Ukraine have supported the U.S. defense industrial base, bolstering the U.S. economy.
Invest, Align, and Compete with People’s Republic of China (PRC). The PRC is the United States’ only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do so. Funding, including Countering PRC Influence Fund (CPIF) and the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Fund, will prevent the PRC’s direct and indirect inroads detrimental to U.S. interests, raise the cost of problematic PRC activity, and provide direct alternatives to PRC offerings. In addition, the President’s Budget includes $4 billion in mandatory spending over five years to make game changing investments in the Indo-Pacific and international infrastructure to outcompete China.
Invest in our Indo-Pacific Partnerships and Alliances. The Indo-Pacific region is of vital importance to U.S. security and prosperity. The $4 billion Request will strengthen the U.S. role in the Indo-Pacific, including by strengthening our alliances and partnerships. This includes critical bilateral and regional foreign assistance, as well as resources to increase personnel directly supporting the Indo-Pacific Strategy, including recently opened or expanded embassies in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Advance Peace and Security in the Middle East by maintaining $3.3 billion in the Budget’s base security assistance consistent with the U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding, and in addition to the Administration’s October Supplemental Request. This Request demonstrates our enduring support for U.S. partners in the region, including Jordan and Egypt, and bolsters regional stability against terrorist groups like Hamas, Iran-backed proxies and partners, and economic shocks and instability exacerbated by the conflict. It also maintains lifesaving assistance for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza and continues investments in peacebuilding as a foundation for a sustainable, two-state solution with Israel.
Deliver Solutions for Shared Global Challenges. We must continue to address pressing global challenges such as irregular migration, countering synthetic drugs, global food insecurity, global health challenges, a rapidly changing climate, and growing humanitarian crises.
$1.2 billion to support the ongoing U.S. government response to the global food security crisis, including $100 million for the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils. Resources will support inclusive and sustainable agricultural-led economic growth, the deployment of enhanced agricultural practices, promote a more resilient agricultural sector, and integrating nutrition-sensitive approaches supporting a well-nourished population.
$169.4 million to counter the production and trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetics that endanger public health and safety and contribute to tens of thousands of drug-overdose deaths in the United States annually.
$500 million in mandatory FY 2025 funding for the Green Climate Fund (GCF), as part of a four-year mandatory proposal to provide $3 billion to the GCF. Paired with GCF reforms, this funding will unlock private capital that will enhance energy security by diversifying energy sources, help countries to reduce their emissions, enable the most vulnerable to adapt to climate change, and strengthen the resilience of their economies and critical infrastructure.
$9.8 billion to advance U.S. leadership in addressing global health challenges, strengthening health systems, and bolstering pandemic preparedness, including through a contribution to the Pandemic Fund to support low- and middle-income countries in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
$10.3 billion to deliver lifesaving humanitarian assistance to millions of people who have been impacted or displaced by conflicts like those in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan. It will also enable State and USAID to address the human suffering and displacement that have been compounded by multi-season droughts and climate induced disasters, worsening malnutrition, and food insecurity worldwide. These funds will be used to assist more than 330 million people globally who face acute food insecurity.
The Request also includes funding to unlock $36 billion in new World Bank lending. Recognizing that the challenges cannot be solved by the Request alone, we must continue to leverage multilateral institutions, strengthen alliances and partnerships, and urge others to do their part to comprehensively address these issues.
Modernize Diplomacy and Bolster our Workforce. To achieve our strategic objectives, our workforce must be equipped to meet critical challenges and take advantage of opportunities. The Request will drive an ambitious modernization of American diplomacy and development by filling 200 vacancies and establishing nearly 350 new positions, for a total workforce growth of almost 550. State’s Request adds 52 Foreign Service positions and 150 Civil Service positions, and the USAID Request adds 145 positions.
The Request advances our presence in the Indo-Pacific, reduces Foreign Service vacancies, strengthens the Civil Service, enhances workplace flexibilities, and redresses long-standing inequities in compensation for our Locally Employed (LE) staff around the world. It also sustains ongoing initiatives to advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) across the foreign affairs workforce.
Protect our Diplomats, Embassies, and Data. Excluding rescissions of prior year funds, this Request includes $5.8 billion to keep our global workforce secure from an array of threats to their health and safety, address infrastructure vulnerabilities, and protect sensitive data.
$3.9 billion for Diplomatic Security and related programs will protect U.S. diplomatic operations abroad, including our expanded presence in the Indo-Pacific, Libya, and Eastern Caribbean. $1.9 billion for Embassy, Security, Construction and Maintenance will provide diplomatic and consular missions overseas with secure, safe, and functional facilities that represent the U.S. government to the host nation. An additional $694 million is requested for cybersecurity.
Improve Consular Services through $5.1 billion in projected spending from fee revenues to increase hiring and technology investments that will improve the accessibility and efficiency of consular services, such as through the electronic Consular Report of Birth Abroad application and Online Passport Renewal. Newly requested authorities will enhance the flexibility of the fee-funded Consular and Border Security Programs (CBSP) account.
