WASHINGTON — The bipartisan spending deal that Congress cleared last week provides billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, but it cuts other humanitarian programs meant to address mounting hunger crises elsewhere in the world, including Afghanistan and West Africa.
When the bill’s $4.1 billion in emergency supplemental humanitarian funding for Ukraine is excluded, the baseline fiscal 2022 spending level for humanitarian accounts covered by the State-Foreign Operations title comes in at $6.8 billion — a $1 billion cut compared to fiscal 2021 enacted levels.
The Biden administration had requested over $8.5 billion in total fiscal 2022 funding spread over two principal humanitarian aid accounts: the State Department’s Migration and Refugee Assistance account and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s International Disaster Assistance account. The initial House-passed bill and one offered in the Senate, written by majority Democrats, would have largely fulfilled the White House’s humanitarian funding request.
