White House Hides War Spending in State Department and USAID Budgets

By Kyle Anzalone | 28 March 2022

LIBERTARIAN INSTITUTE — 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. […]