U.S. Foreign Aid

U.S. Foreign Aid forms the basis of the country's international affairs budget. According to many, U.S. Foreign Aid is an essential component of American foreign policy.

In the United States of America, the following 5 types of foreign aid exist:

Humanitarian Aid

Military Aid

Multilateral Economic Contributions

Bilateral Development Aid

Economic assistance, promoting the American security and political plan of actions

With the introduction of 2 fresh foreign aid categories in recent times, namely the Millennium Challenge Corporation and The Global AIDS Initiative, the Bilateral Development Assistance has become the second most important type of foreign aid in America.

The latest status of American Foreign Aid:

In the year 2004, America is known to have offered foreign financial assistance to as many as 150 nations across the world in many different forms. Egypt and Israel continue to be the largest recipients of U.S. Foreign Aid. In the 2004 financial year, Iraq turned out to be the largest receiver of American foreign aid, although it has been getting monetary support from America since the middle of 2003 on the basis of reconstruction activities.

In terms of dollars, the Unites States of America is the biggest donor of foreign economic aid on a global basis. However, it has been noticed in recent times that the total amount of foreign aid coming from the U.S. has reduced remarkably, though this process has been continuing slowly and silently for many decades. This is perhaps because the 0.2% of the American Gross National Product (GNP), normally represented by foreign aid demands has decreased to extraordinarily small amounts over the past half century.

Organizations handling the U. S. foreign aid:

The responsibility of managing the volume of bilateral financial assistance rests with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The State Department, jointly with the Department of Defense (DOD), governs the country's security and military-related issues.
The Treasury Department is entrusted with handling of the bulk of the multilateral aids.
The House and Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittees deal with the bills reserving most foreign aid funds.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committees, along with the House International Relations, is primarily engaged with the authorization of the American foreign aid programs.
The Millennium Challenge Organization is a newly formed American foreign aid agency, that came into existence in 2004.