On International Women’s Day, President Joe Biden announced that his FY 2023 budget will include $2.6 billion for foreign assistance programs to promote gender equity, more than double what he set aside the previous year.
In the announcement, Biden touted his accomplishments in gender equity, like the creation of a White House Gender Policy Council, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the provisions for childcare funding in the American Rescue Plan, and the establishment of the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund, among others.
Biden didn’t release details about exactly where the money was going, but funding for foreign assistance programs often results in waste because of its decentralized nature.
Last summer, our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com released a report showing that U.S. taxpayers already pay approximately $50 billion a year in foreign aid – an amount more than the federal money flowing to 48 out of 50 state governments.
Much of the new worldwide gender funding will likely go to individual missions and embassies in foreign countries, which will have broad discretion in the programs they choose to sponsor.
With few guidelines and little oversight, there’s no telling where these funds will end up.
The budget request will soon be sent to Congress, which ultimately decides what funding to approve, but the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives will likely try to incorporate the president’s priorities into its bill. It’s likely that $2.6 billion for gender equity for foreign assistance programs will make its way into the final bill.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com. This article originally appeared on RealClearPolicy.
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