Bill Gates is calling on Washington, D.C., to examine its moral compass on foreign aid, and renew its spending pledges to poorer nations.
Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft and founder of the multibillion-dollar philanthropic Gates Foundation, was optimistic in the early days of the Trump administration that the White House was open to hearing the need for spending on foreign aid.
However, in the months that have passed since, Trump’s team—most notably Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—has wiped billions in foreign aid in a cost-cutting and efficiency drive.
Since 2001, Pew Research estimates the U.S. has spent between 0.7% and 1.4% of its GDP on foreign aid. In 2023, the most recent figures obtained by Pew, that number stood at $71.9 billion and 1.2% of federal outlays. These funds have gone toward everything from fighting diseases like polio and TB to environmental and educational projects in nations around the world.
However, that relatively small portion of the federal budget has been one of contention, with voters and politicians asking why U.S. funds are being spent abroad when domestic issues are piling up.
