On Monday, the White House released its spending proposal for the 2023 fiscal year. The whopping $5.8 trillion budget includes $773 billion for the Pentagon. However, billions in war spending are allocated to other government agencies, including the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Biden administration’s spending plan calls for the two agencies to receive a combined $60 billion for various global projects. One program directed by the State Department doles out military aid. In the coming year, Isreal will get $3.3 billion, Jordan will receive $1.45 billion, and $1.4 billion will go to Egypt.
All three states commit significant human rights abuses. A UN report recently accused Israel of committing the crime of apartheid, and Egypt’s military ruler, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, imprisoned many of his political opponents in the country’s most recent election.
The new budget request uses State and USAID to wage ‘strategic competition’ against Russian and China. A State Department press release on the budget says the US will spend $4 billion to “compete” with Moscow and Beijing.
“To effectively compete with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia. The Request includes $4 billion to support US commitments to international organizations and affirms US leadership at a moment when our competitors are seeking to expand their influence.”
The spending request also seeks $1.8 billion for a program to “Revitalize Alliances and Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.” The initiative includes $400 million for the Countering PRC Malign Influence Fund (CPMIF).
The White House spending plan calls for “$3.2 billion to advance democratization… consistent with the commitments made during the President’s Summit for Democracy.” Biden used the summit to divide the world into two camps, democracy and autocracy. He claimed democratic states must work against rising authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
