Today, President Trump released his Budget Request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, which includes a total of $40 billion for the U.S. Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Budget would advance USAID’s approach to supporting governments, civil society, and the private sector in our partner countries on their journey to self-reliance through building capacity and commitment to plan, finance, and implement solutions to their own development challenges. The FY 2020 Budget maintains the principle that other donors will need to step up to and do their fair share to support economic growth and development worldwide, and to address humanitarian crises.

The Budget also reflects the Agency’s internal reorganization efforts (“USAID’s Transformation”), to make our Agency more field-focused, functionally aligned, and able to accomplish our Mission of advancing American foreign policy goals. The FY 2020 Budget proposes to optimize U.S. humanitarian assistance through a new consolidated appropriations account and program-implementation structure. It also envisions transforming how we make investments in development through powerful tools, such as engaging more with the private sector, mobilizing more local resources, and leveraging the new Development Finance Corporation and diplomatic relationships stewarded by the Department of State, to reduce the need for foreign assistance.

With the resources in the Budget, USAID would continue to contribute to our nation’s efforts to advance dignity and prosperity, as well as religious and ethnic tolerance, inclusivity, and freedom, both as an expression of core American values, and to help build peaceful, open, and flourishing partners for the United States in advancement of American national security and economic prosperity. Therefore, the Budget requests additional resources to support religious and ethnic minorities across the Middle East and elsewhere to provide emergency assistance, establish livelihoods, repair infrastructure, and promote norms of tolerance and coexistence. The Budget also proposes to continue critical programs to counter malign Russian influence, and significantly increases funding levels to expand the Administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.

The FY 2020 President’s Budget Request includes $19.2 billion for accounts that USAID manages fully or partially. With the funding requested by the President, the dedicated men and women of USAID will continue to help developing countries make progress on a path towards self-reliance and prosperity that will ultimately end the need for development assistance.