# Foreign Assistance Act

The Foreign Assistance Act (Pub. L. 87–195, 75 Stat. 424-2, enacted September 4, 1961, 22 U.S.C. § 2151 et seq.) is a United States law governing foreign aid policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure of U.S. foreign assistance programs, legally distinguished military from nonmilitary aid, and, through executive order by President John F. Kennedy Jr., resulted in a new agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to administer nonmilitary economic assistance programs. Following its enactment by Congress on September 4, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Act into law on November 3, 1961, issuing Executive Order 10973 detailing the reorganization.

## Synopsis

USAID unified already existing U.S. aid efforts, combining the economic and technical assistance operations of the International Cooperation Administration, the loan activities of the Development Loan Fund, the local currency functions of the Export-Import Bank, and the agricultural surplus distribution activities of the Food for Peace program of the Department of Agriculture.
The Act provides that no assistance is to be provided to a government which "engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, and the security of person, unless such assistance will directly benefit the needy people in such country."
The Act also provides that no assistance is to be provided to any Communist country. However, the President may waive this prohibition if he determines that such assistance is vital to the national security of the United States, that the country is not controlled by the international Communist conspiracy, and that the assistance will promote the country's independence from international Communism. The President may also remove a country from the application of this provision for a certain time which the President determines. In order to remove a country from the application of this provision, the President must determine and report to Congress that such action is important to the national security of the United States.
The Act was amended in 2004 specific to the treatment of orphans and other vulnerable children. This amendment allows the president to provide aid to the peoples of other countries to look after children in cases of HIV/AIDS and to set up schools and other programs for the advancement of child treatment.
Under the authority of this Act on March 16, 2022, President Joe Biden authorized $800 million in new security assistance to Ukraine.
On December 14, 2023, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a privileged resolution invoking Section 502(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act, calling on the State Department to investigate Israeli crimes against humanity in its conduct of the war in Gaza. The resolution would freeze U.S. military aid to Israel unless the State Department issues a report within 30 days. The proposal was defeated, 72 to 11. In March 2024, Sanders, along with seven other U.S. senators, warned President Biden that arming Israel was a violation of the Foreign Assistance Act, which bars the U.S. from arming countries that limit humanitarian aid.

## Excess Defense Articles

Section § 2403 of Title 22 U.S. Code defines "Excess Defense Articles" (EDA). The EDA Program is administered by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). Excess defense articles are DoD and U.S. Coast Guard-owned articles no longer needed and declared excess by the U.S. Armed Forces. This excess equipment may be offered at reduced or no cost to eligible foreign recipients on an “as is, where is” basis in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives.
Section 516(b)(1)(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act states that EDA transfers shall not adversely impact the U.S. national technology and industrial base, nor reduce the opportunities of U.S. industry to sell new or used equipment to the proposed recipient. In accordance with Executive Order 12163, as amended, the Director of DSCA makes the determination on the impact to industry.
Authority to transfer excess defense articles is the subject of Title 22 §2321j.
The EDA program has a useful database tool. It is run through the Department of State's Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers. In 1993 the governments of Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Morocco, and Oman and five North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries benefited from this program. In 2021, Poland benefited from this program with the transfer of five C-130 Hercules from the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group's aircraft boneyard. In February 2024 during the congressional gridlock over the 2024 United States federal budget Supplemental appropriations legislation a journalist with Forbes suggested the use of this program to unblock DPICM munitions to supply Ukraine, as it only needed presidential approval for zero-cost surplus items.

## Amendments to 1961 Act

Chronological timeline of amendments and revisions to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
| Date of Enactment | Public Law Number | U.S. Statute Citation | U.S. Legislative Bill | U.S. Presidential Administration |
| August 1, 1962 | Pub. L. 87–565 | 76 Stat. 255 | S. 2996 | John F. Kennedy |
| December 16, 1963 | Pub. L. 88–205 | 77 Stat. 379 | H.R. 7885 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| October 7, 1964 | Pub. L. 88–633 | 78 Stat. 1009 | H.R. 11380 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| September 6, 1965 | Pub. L. 89–171 | 79 Stat. 653 | H.R. 7750 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| March 18, 1966 | Pub. L. 89–371 | 80 Stat. 74 | H.R. 12169 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| September 19, 1966 | Pub. L. 89–583 | 80 Stat. 795-3 | H.R. 15750 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| November 14, 1967 | Pub. L. 90–137 | 81 Stat. 445 | S. 1872 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| October 8, 1968 | Pub. L. 90–554 | 82 Stat. 960 | H.R. 15263 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| January 5, 1971 | Pub. L. 91–652 | 84 Stat. 1942 | H.R. 19911 | Richard M. Nixon |
| December 30, 1974 | Pub. L. 93–559 | 88 Stat. 1795 | S. 3394 | Gerald R. Ford |
| June 30, 1976 | Pub. L. 94–329 | 90 Stat. 729 | H.R. 13680 | Gerald R. Ford |
| September 8, 2017 | Pub. L. 115–56 (text) (PDF) | 131 Stat. 1129 | H.R. 601 | Donald Trump |