# International Affairs **OMB budget function 150** — the entire foreign-policy budget: the [[Department of State]], foreign aid, embassies, international organizations, and foreign military financing. **~$45.2B in FY2025 — down 19.9%** from FY2024's $56.4B, the sharpest drop of any function, reflecting the dismantlement of [[United States Agency for International Development]] and the [[Rescissions Act of 2025]]. At ~0.6% of total outlays, it is one of the smallest functions in the budget. ## What's in it - **Foreign economic & humanitarian aid** — development assistance, global health, disaster and refugee response, food aid (historically run through USAID). - **State Department operations** — diplomacy, embassies, consular services. - **Security assistance** — foreign military financing and international peacekeeping. - **International organizations** — dues and contributions to the UN, World Bank, etc. ## The RWKB angle International Affairs is the textbook case of the **rhetoric-vs-outlays** gap that runs through the [[Budget Hub]]. Polls routinely find Americans believe foreign aid is 20–30% of the budget; it is **under 1%**. Yet it absorbs a wildly disproportionate share of political attack and was the **first and largest target** of the cut agenda: USAID was gutted administratively in early 2025, then ~$7.9B of foreign aid was permanently canceled by the [[Rescissions Act of 2025]]. The symbolism — "America First," ending "globalist" spending — vastly exceeds the fiscal stakes, which is exactly why it was chosen. The contrast with [[Administration of Justice]] (cut foreign aid, surge enforcement) captures the administration's whole budget posture. ## Related - [[Department of State]] · [[United States Agency for International Development]] · [[Rescissions Act of 2025]] - [[Administration of Justice]] · [[Budget Functions]] · [[Federal Budget FY2025]] · [[Budget Hub]]