U.S. Agency for International Development: An Overview (CRS): “The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) served as the lead international humanitarian and development arm of the U.S. government. It was established in 1961, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 10973, to implement components of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA). Congress codified USAID in statute in Section 1413 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (Division G of P.L. 105-277; 22 U.S.C. 6563). Section 1522 of that law states, “The Administrator of the Agency for International Development, appointed pursuant to section 624(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2384(a)), shall report to and be under the direct authority and foreign policy guidance of the Secretary of State.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on July 1, 2025, that “as of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance.” According to the statement, “Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department.” In FY2024 (the most recent year for which complete data are available), USAID managed more than $35 billion in combined appropriations, representing more than one-third of the funds provided in the FY2024 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) appropriations and international food aid provided in the Agriculture appropriations. Some USAID appropriations accounts had been co-managed with the Department of State (State), making many calculations of USAID’s exact budget imprecise. (For more on SFOPS, see CRS Report R48231, Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2025 Budget and Appropriations.) According to the FY2023 Agency Financial Report (the most recent report CRS was able to access), USAID’s workforce totaled more than 10,000 at the end of FY2023, with approximately two-thirds serving overseas (not including institutional support contractors). The agency maintained more than 60 country and regional missions that designed and managed a range of projects, most intended to meet specific development objectives as outlined in a Country Development Cooperation Strategy. Most projects were implemented—through a grant, cooperative agreement, or contract—by one (or more) of thousands of foreign and U.S. development partners, including nonprofit organizations, for-profit contractors, universities, international organizations, and foreign governments.
- In FY2024, USAID provided assistance to about 130 countries. The top 10 recipients of USAID-managed funds were, in descending order, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jordan, Ethiopia, West Bank and Gaza, Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and South Sudan. Reflecting USAID’s poverty reduction mandate, 69 of the 77 World Bank-determined low- and lower-middle-income countries received USAID assistance in FY2024. Beginning in the early 1990s, health became the largest USAID sector by funding, bolstered since 2004 by more than $120 billion dollars to date for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and since 2020 by emergency assistance to combat COVID-19. In FY2022, humanitarian assistance surpassed health as the largest USAID sector. This followed year-over-year increases in humanitarian assistance in response to natural and human-induced humanitarian crises. (See CRS In Focus IF10568, Overview of the Global Humanitarian and Displacement Crisis.) For FY2023, governance was the highest funded sector, a result of U.S. direct financial support for the Government of Ukraine. (See CRS In Focus IF12305, U.S. Direct Financial Support for Ukraine.) Humanitarian assistance returned to the top of the list in FY2024…”
