US Politics |OT|

[sundin13]

SvennoJ said:

Shtinamin_ said:

This is what's in the Foreign Aid Bill, from giving it a quick glance.

• ~$60B to support Ukraine
  • ~$14B to allow Ukraine to rearm itself purchasing weapons and munitions (goes back to US)
  • ~$15B to military training and intelligence sharing
  • ~$8B to help Ukraine have basic government operation prohibiting pensions
  • ~$1.6B to help Ukraine’s private sector
  • ~$480M to help Ukrainian’s displaced by war
• ~$14.1B to support Israel & US military operations in the region
  • ~$4B to boost Israel’s air defenses
  • ~$1.2B for Iron Beam
  • ~$2.5B to support US military operations in the region
  • ~$9.2B Humanitarian Assistance to provide food, water, shelter, and medical care to Palestinians, Ukrainian and other civilians caught in war zones.
• >$8B to support key partners in the Info-Pacific and deter Chinese government aggression
  • ~$1.9B to replenish US weapons for Taiwan
  • ~$3.3B to build more US-made subs to support Australia and UK
• ~$400M for a grant program to help nonprofits and places of worship make security enhancements and protect them from hate crimes. Target sanctions on criminal organizations involved with the production of fentanyl.

That doesn't add up, or rather comes to 16.9B for Israel and US operations

The 9.2B is separate from the 14.1B for Israel
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/senate-foreign-aid-bill-ukraine/index.html

The Senate plan directs $14.1bn to Israel. Around $5.2bn of this funding is allocated to missile defense systems.

However the bill also strips US funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) which serves over 5.6 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, The Westbank and East Jerusalem, employing over 30,000 people.

The bill needs to be passed to help Ukraine, yet for Palestinians it's just more misery.

I can't find any details on the Humanitarian assistance, lumped all together for all war zones with no details how or how much aid would even be allocated for Gaza.

Here is the bill text from the Senate Appropriations Committee:

national_security_act_bill_text.pdf (senate.gov)

In regards to the Humanitarian assistance, it looks like it would primarily go to two places:

1) "International Disaster Assistance" - $5.6bn

From what I could tell, currently only $1.6bn has been allocated to the Internation Disaster Assistance fund for 2024, so that would make the new total about $7.2bn. Assuming all of this money was spent in 2024, that would be an increase in outlays over the historical average of around $4-5bn, but a decrease from the $9.3bn spent in 2023. This money appears to be allocated by USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (following the specifications listed in the bill). 

Here is a link to BHA: Humanitarian Assistance | What We Do | U.S. Agency for International Development (usaid.gov)
A summary of the program: International Disaster Assistance - InterAction
And a link to the spending page for International Disaster Assistance: International Disaster Assistance, Funds Appropriated to the President, US Agency for International Development | Spending Profile | USAspending

2) "Migration and Refugee Assistance" - $3.5bn

This program seems to have $1.3bn allocated for 2024, for a total of $4.8bn. Historical average outlays appear to be around $3.5bn with a high of $4.9bn in 2023. This money goes to the Department of State to be allocated (following the specifications listed in the bill).

Here is a link to the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration: Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration - United States Department of State
A summary of the program: Migration and Refugee Assistance - InterAction
And a link to the spending page for Migration and Refugee Assistance: Migration and Refugee Assistance, State | Spending Profile | USAspending