At a time when borders are being threatened by authoritarianism and pandemics, America’s leadership and interests are truly at stake in the world. As such, today’s spending decisions are not a serious response to the multitude of growing global threats that impact our health, economic, and security interests. Sadly, they are a self-inflicted wound to our future recovery.

From pandemic preparedness to ongoing competition with China to rising conflict, hunger, and authoritarianism, and now the fastest movement of people since WWII – these unprecedented threats directly impact our citizens here at home. The U.S. simply cannot put its head in the sand when it comes to defending our values and the interests of every American family on the global stage.

While the emergency funding to support Ukraine is vital, the good news ends there. With just a 1% increase compared to last year’s baseline funding, this final spending deal does not recognize how dramatically the world has changed over the past year, falling far short of what the Administration, the House, and the Senate previously outlined to make long-overdue investments in America’s diplomacy, development, and global health programs.

Adding insult to injury was the last-minute decision to eliminate critical emergency global COVID-19 resources from the spending package – after the global COVID package had already been diminished – raising grave questions about our nation’s ability to confront dramatically escalating threats that will only come back to our shores. While there may be differences of opinion on domestic spending here at home, politics must stop at the water’s edge when it comes to America leading on the global stage.

As we seek to rally our allies, we must be clear-eyed and recognize that it is crazy to believe we can combat today’s global threats with last year’s budget. Today’s decisions put America even further behind – and the pressure is on for Congress to provide critically needed resources in upcoming appropriations. Time to get us back on track.

Key Numbers:

Congress provided a total of $64.89 billion for the FY22 International Affairs Budget – including:

• $57.99 billion in regular/non-emergency funding ($605 million or 1.1% above the FY21 non-emergency enacted level)

• $6.9 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine

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