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	Statement of the Administrator Summary of FY 2006 Budget Request Program Highlights Management Improvements USAID Support Budget Operating Expenses Capital Investment Fund Working Capital Fund Operating Expenses, Inspector General Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund International Disaster and Famine Assistance Transition Initiatives
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International Disaster and Famine Assistance

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The International Disaster and Famine Assistance (IDFA) account is the lead account for responses by the U.S. Government to non-food disasters in foreign countries. The funding for most of these USAID disaster responses is managed by the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA).

In recent years, there has been a succession of disasters which have led to supplemental appropriations in the IDFA account. In FY 2003, Afghanistan and Iraq required substantial disaster assistance. In FY 2004, Liberia and Sudan received special funding ($200 million and $20 million, respectively) through the supplemental appropriations for Iraq. Most of the $200 million for Liberia was budgeted by USAID's Bureau for Africa, and is explained in more detail in the Africa section of the CBJ, as is an additional $70 million provided for Sudan in FY 2004 through the FY 2005 appropriations legislation for the Department of Defense.

The $20 million Sudan funding has addressed two major disasters - the problems arising from the war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudanese people in the southern part of the country, and the requirements arising from the crisis in Darfur in the western part. IDFA funding in response to the needs in Sudan has been split three ways, with some of the funding transferred to the U.S. Department of State for peace- keeping operations in Darfur, and the rest of the funding divided between the Africa and DCHA Bureaus.

Beginning in FY 2004, famine prevention and relief assistance was added to the account as a separate component. In FY 2004, $19.882 million was obligated by the USAID mission in Ethiopia for famine prevention activities. This is explained in more detail in the Africa section of the CBJ.

For FY 2005, the Congress has appropriated $484.9 million in IDFA funding. Of this, $197.3 million has been budgeted for Sudan, including Darfur. Another $153.4 million will be used by the DCHA Bureau for general disaster response purposes. The $34.2 million famine prevention and relief funds for FY 2005 are currently being programmed in line with the Administration's guidelines that the funds seek innovative, catalytic opportunities and not be guaranteed to the same activity from one year to the next. The final component consists of $100 million in supplemental funding which the Congress appropriated in response to the disasters caused by hurricanes and tropical storms in the Caribbean region.

The FY 2006 request for $655.6 million for IDFA also consists of four components. First there is the traditional component for responding to disasters around the world. This request for $235.5 million will be administered by OFDA. The next component ($100 million) is being requested for activities in Sudan as implementation of peace-related activities continues. The third component, $20 million for famine prevention and relief, is a contingency fund intended to mitigate or prevent famine, subject to White House concurrence. The final component consists of a request for $300 million for cash food aid to permit USAID to provide assistance in the most timely and efficient manner to the most critical emergency food crises. This assistance will be used in those instances where the rapid use of funds is critical to saving lives; such assistance may consist of purchasing food locally.

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