How many lives per year has the U.S. saved with foreign aid?
Critical Analysis
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:
Since the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was formed in 1961, it's funded a wide range of programs, from giving school lunches to children in Haiti to distributing HIV medication across sub-Saharan Africa. This summer The Trump administration shuttered USAID which was responsible for most U.S. foreign aid spending. According to the visual above, about how many lives per year does the U.S. save with foreign aid?
A new study published in the medical journal, the Lancet estimates that USAID programs have saved over 90 million lives over the past two decades. The researchers also estimate that if the current cuts continue through 2030, 14 million people who might have otherwise lived could die. Modeling out of Boston University estimated that within the first three months of USAID cuts, nearly 300,000 people had already died. According to the visual above, what category of U.S. foreign aid saves the most lives per year?
The figures in the visual above are gross estimates. They reflect the number of lives that US foreign aid helped to save, rather than the exact number that would have been lost if the US had not provided this support. In some cases, other governments, charities, or communities might have stepped in to fill the gap. It is hard to know exactly what would have happened. James Macinko, a health policy researcher at UCLA and co-author of the Lancet study found that, “the average U.S. taxpayer has contributed about 18 cents per day to USAID," What number do you think is the right amount for taxpayers to spend to save lives outside of America?
The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — better known as PEPFAR — is widely considered one of history's most successful international aid initiatives. Launched in 2003, PEPFAR funds testing, antiretroviral therapy, prevention, and care in dozens of low- and middle-income countries, focusing on the hardest-hit regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023 alone, over 20 million people globally received antiretroviral therapy through PEPFAR. The State Department administers PEPFAR and says the program has saved 25 million lives. or around 1.6 million per year. Republican President George W. Bush launched PEPFAR. Reflecting later on the moral imperative behind the decision, he wrote in his memoir Decision Points: “I considered America a generous nation with a moral responsibility to do our part to help relieve poverty and despair.” Do you agree with President Bush?
According to the visual below* of the top ten largest donor countries, what country gave the smallest percentage of its money (share of gross national income - GNI) in foreign aid?
Why do you think the U.S. spends this portion of its money (GNI) on foreign aid and how much do you think they should spend?
According to the visual below* the average American believes the U.S. spends 26 %of our budget on foreign aid? Why do you think Americans are so very wrong about how much we spend on foreign aid?
Most American foreign aid goes through USAID, an independent agency created when John Kennedy signed Congress’ Foreign Assistance Act in 1961. transforms. USAID transforms families, communities, and countries – so they can thrive and prosper. Whether by preventing the next global epidemic, responding to a devastating earthquake, or helping a farmer access tools to grow her business. What is one positive consequence of the U.S. spending money on aid to people who live in other countries?
For decades, foreign aid programs received bipartisan (Republican and Democratic) support. Why do you think that has changed?
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. But the president is in charge of executing the law. Impoundment occurs when Congress appropriates money that the president then declines to spend. While the U.S. Constitution broadly grants Congress the power of the purse (spending), the President – through the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and executive agencies – is responsible for the actual spending of funds. When President Nixon’s administration refused to release Congressionally appropriated funds for certain programs he opposed the congress passed The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) reasserting Congress' power of the purse. Specifically, Title X of the Act – "Impoundment Control" – established procedures to prevent the President and other government officials from unilaterally substituting their own funding decisions for those of the Congress. After the ICA passed, the Supreme Court unanimously held in Train v. City of New York that even without the ICA, the President does not have unilateral authority to impound funds. Congress has the power of the purse. President Trump has used impoundments to unilaterally do by fiat what he can’t pass in Congress. On September 26, 2025: The Supreme Court issued a 6–3 decision that temporarily granted the administration's request to impound USAID money, blocking a lower court order that would have required the money to be spent. How does this illustrate the concept of checks and balances?
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Do you think USAID should be funded? Contact your congress member to let them know what you think.
Get Creative
Write a poem or rap or make a google slideshow about the end of U.S. foreign aid.
Learn More*
I've put together an entire fantabulous lesson on foreign aid. Check it out and play our foreign aid party game at home!
