Statement on the President’s Skinny Budget

WASHINGTON, D.C. – InterAction, the largest alliance of international NGOs and partners in the United States, is deeply concerned with the President’s “skinny budget” that drastically reduces U.S. funding for foreign assistance.

The President’s budget proposes an 83.7% reduction in State Department and USAID funding when rescissions are included.

“This represents a stark retreat from America’s longstanding commitment to easing suffering, saving lives, and helping communities build their own path to prosperity,” said Tom Hart, President and CEO of InterAction. “U.S. leadership represents the best of American values around the world, and supports American security, economic, and health interests. If these proposals become reality, countless vulnerable women, children, and families will suffer and America’s standing and interests will be diminished.”

Millions of Americans across party lines have long supported our nation’s foreign assistance programs and the American NGOs that implement them. This powerful partnership between American citizens, organizations, and the U.S. government embodies the best of who we are as a nation. Yet the current budget proposal threatens to dismantle this vital work, abandoning millions of vulnerable people to face life without food, water, or essential medical care.

The administration claims these proposed cuts only target wasteful spending while preserving life-saving aid. The reality on the ground—consequences of the chaotic cuts implemented over the last three months—tells a much different story.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, entire communities have been cut off from clean water and healthcare. Children are dying from dehydration due to cholera, when a simple rehydration solution costing pennies could save countless lives.

In Sudan, 80% of community kitchens have closed due to funding cuts, leaving 1.8 million famine-affected people without access to life-saving food. Malnutrition means children dying within days or weeks as their bodies slowly waste away.

These aren’t just statistics. They are mothers cradling their children, watching helplessly as entirely preventable diseases claim innocent lives—all because America chose to step back from its leadership role.

These examples only encapsulate the immediate effects, not the long-term instability that will undoubtedly follow. Without proper development programming to build resilience and self-sufficiency, countries will remain perpetually dependent on short-term fixes and emergency humanitarian assistance, creating an endless cycle that ultimately costs more, not less.

More than 99% of American taxpayer dollars go to supporting Americans at home through infrastructure, defense, healthcare, and education. The other 0.5% represents one of the United States’ smartest foreign policy investments—creating stable economies and allies and preventing the spread of extremism and disease that could reach American shores.

We ask Congress to reclaim America’s leadership by exercising their budgetary and oversight responsibilities and voting to retain adequate foreign assistance funding.

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InterAction unites and amplifies the voices of America’s leading humanitarian and development organizations committed to creating a safer, more prosperous world. Its members deliver lifesaving aid, protect vulnerable families, and advance human dignity around the globe.

For press inquiries, please contact Mitch McQuate at mmcquate@interaction.org or (202) 403-7253.