By Tyler Arnold
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 10, 2025 /
16:30 pm
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are urging lawmakers in the House of Representatives to approve tens of billions of dollars in international humanitarian assistance in an upcoming appropriations bill.
CRS Executive Vice President Bill O’Keefe provided testimony to the House Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs earlier this month to present lawmakers with “a Catholic pro-life vision of international assistance that drives to the common good.”
Congress allocated nearly $70 billion in total foreign aid funding in the last fiscal year, although President Donald Trump’s administration froze most of those funds for a three-month period in January. The administration intends to restore some funds, but it’s unclear which organizations will continue to receive federal money.
CRS receives more federal funding through international aid than any other nongovernmental organization. Between fiscal years 2013 and 2022, CRS received more than $4.6 billion in funds, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
However, Trump’s freeze in funding, O’Keefe told the subcommittee, forced CRS to eliminate 74 programs that serve 20 million people abroad. If federal funding is not restored, CRS will have to cut about 50% of its staff this year alone, according to an internal email that was reported on by the National Catholic Reporter.
Yet O’Keefe took a conciliatory tone toward the Republican majority in the House, thanking them for “your leadership amid a realignment of U.S. international assistance aimed to make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous.”
O’Keefe said he hoped to bring “a Catholic perspective to this realignment,” which focuses on an adherence to three principles: “inherent human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity.”
“Both Church institutions and states have a shared responsibility to promote human life and dignity,” O’Keefe told the lawmakers.
“The Catholic Church has a moral [duty] to respond to our neighbors in need, whether near or far,” he said. “… This work alone cannot be left to the Church and other civil society groups. Church teaching has long asserted that governments must actively pursue the common good, not just for our own citizens but for all members of the global family.”
CRS and the bishops encouraged Congress to appropriate more than $10 billion for global health programs that are designed to address maternal and child health, nutrition, HIV and AIDS, and life-threatening diseases. They also requested nearly $4.8 billion for international disaster assistance programs.
The two organizations also urged Congress to provide nearly $4 billion for each of the following: developmental assistance, migration and refugee assistance, and the Economic Support Fund.
The request also suggested another $1.38 billion to the International Development Association.
Other programs for which the groups recommended less than $1 billion each include the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Millennium Challenge Account, the Green Climate Fund, emergency refugee and migration assistance, and the Complex Crises Fund.
O’Keefe said Congress ought to prioritize human dignity by “investing in lifesaving responses” such as emergency food assistance and programs to help promote farming and education in other parts of the world.
To conform its priorities to solidarity, O’Keefe stressed “authentic partnerships” that facilitate “a society-to-society approach, not just a government to government approach.” Aligning with the principle of subsidiarity, he encouraged “investing in local community organizations who are closest to the ground and have the best understanding of what to do.”
On Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order to pause nonemergency foreign aid payments for 90 days. That directive expires later this month on April 20.
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The order stated that prior foreign aid policies were “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and not aligned with Trump’s agenda.
Under President Joe Biden’s administration, some of the foreign aid goals were designed to advance gender ideology in other parts of the world. This included direct funds for projects supporting transgenderism and homosexuality and leveraging foreign aid to pressure nations into adopting laws and policies on gender that aligned with Biden’s goals on those issues.
The sweeping pause, however, prompted lawsuits from organizations that receive funding. A federal judge in March ordered the Trump administration to pay organizations for completed work and ordered him to spend the foreign aid money allocated by Congress but offered him discretion on restructuring the funding to align with his agenda.
Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency, based in EWTN News’ Washington Bureau. He previously worked at The Center Square and has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.
