WASHINGTON, February 3 (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama plans to allocate $50.3 billion to the Department of State (DoS) and US Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of the $4 trillion budget for 2016, the federal agencies that oversee international development and foreign diplomatic relations announced in a statement.
“The President’s FY [fiscal year] 2016 Budget provides $50.3 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, including $7.0 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations,” a statement from the Department of State issued on Monday read.
“Overall our budget request is increasing…the numbers are going up because there are more and vast crisis’ that we’re dealing with,” Higginbottom said.
Higginbottom said that working to counter the Islamic State (IS), rolling out “critical programs” in the Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and working to respond to conflict in Syria and Ukraine were among the federal agencies top priorities outlined in its Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) $7 billion budget.
“We’ve also requested $7 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds to respond to immediate and extraordinary national security requirements,” Higginbottom said. “OCO funds will support critical programs and operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq as well as exceptional costs related to our efforts to fight ISIL, respond to the conflict in Syria and support Ukraine.”
The joint DoS, USAID 2016 budget also includes $1 billion in funding to Central America to address migration issues, over $5 billion to international peacekeeping missions and nearly $6 billion in worldwide humanitarian assistance.
