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How much did biden send over seas with money

Checked on November 15, 2025
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Executive summary

President Biden signed a $95 billion foreign-aid package in April 2024 that included large allocations for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan [1] [2]. More broadly, U.S. international assistance under Biden reached about $66 billion in 2023 (0.24% of GNI) and federal foreign-aid outlays for fiscal 2023 were about $71.9 billion; projected assistance for FY2025 stood near $58.4 billion per Congressional Budget Office estimates cited by Pew [3] [4].

1. What people usually mean by “how much Biden sent overseas”

When people ask “how much did Biden send overseas,” they may mean one of several figures: specific congressional packages (for example the $95 billion aid bill signed in April 2024 that chiefly funded Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan), annual total U.S. foreign assistance outlays in a fiscal year (about $71.9 billion in FY2023), or broader trends such as aid as a share of national income (0.24% in 2023, about $66 billion) [1] [4] [3].

2. The big, headline number: the $95 billion package

The most reported single measure tied to Biden’s presidency is the $95 billion supplemental package that Congress passed and the president signed in April 2024; reporting describes it as “massive” and emphasizes large tranches for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan [1] [2]. That package is distinct from routine annual foreign assistance budgeting: it was an extraordinary, wartime and crisis-focused supplemental measure rather than the baseline foreign-aid budget [1].

3. Annual totals and trends under Biden

Analysts note U.S. foreign aid levels rose under Biden, in part through successive supplemental measures for crises such as COVID-19, Ukraine and Gaza; one estimate cites U.S. foreign aid at roughly $66 billion and the highest proportion of GNI since the mid-1980s (0.24% in 2023) [3]. Official data compiled by agencies and watchdogs show FY2023 spending of about $71.9 billion and a CBO projection that international assistance would be about $58.4 billion in FY2025 [4].

4. Why figures differ: supplemental vs. baseline vs. appropriated-but-unspent

Reporting and policy analysis emphasize important distinctions: supplemental emergency packages (like the $95 billion law) are additive and often focused on conflict or humanitarian crises, while baseline international-assistance accounts are part of yearly budget cycles [1] [4]. Additionally, appropriations that Congress makes do not always translate immediately into spending if an administration or later actions withhold or reprogram funds — a dynamic that became salient in 2025 litigation and political disputes [5] [6].

5. Political dispute and oversight over “who decides”

Republican critics and some congressional committees argued during Biden’s term that foreign aid was mismanaged or politically biased; House hearings framed questions about oversight, waste, and politicization [7] [8]. Conversely, supporters and aid groups pointed to humanitarian need and the strategic aims of such assistance; foreign-aid organizations later grappled with Republican-led calls for cuts as politics shifted [9] [10].

6. Recent legal and political complications that changed the on-the-ground picture

Subsequent political developments have altered how much of Congress’s appropriations actually moved abroad: reporting shows legal fights and executive actions in 2025 affected disbursements, including judicial orders and freezes that led to tens of billions being contested in court and some funds withheld from grantees [5] [6]. That demonstrates a gap that can exist between “authorized/appropriated” amounts and cash ultimately spent overseas [5] [6].

7. Where to find the authoritative, up-to-date totals

For granular, transaction-level and program-by-program numbers, the federal ForeignAssistance.gov portal is the official central source of U.S. foreign-assistance budgetary and financial data; analysts and journalists routinely supplement that data with CBO, OMB and watchdog reports such as Pew and CGD [11] [4] [12].

8. Bottom line and limitations of current reporting

Available reporting establishes that Biden presided over large increases in U.S. foreign assistance driven largely by supplemental packages (notably the $95 billion bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan) and that annual totals for recent years ranged from roughly $58 billion (projected FY2025) to about $72 billion spent in FY2023 [1] [4] [3]. Precise, up-to-the-day totals for “money actually sent overseas” depend on which accounts, fiscal year and disbursement-versus-appropriation distinctions you want; for the most current transactional detail, consult ForeignAssistance.gov and CBO/OMB releases [11] [4].

If you want, I can pull together a short table (by fiscal year and by major recipient: Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, humanitarian) from these sources and ForeignAssistance.gov to make the different totals and definitions clearer.

Want to dive deeper?
How much U.S. foreign aid has the Biden administration committed since 2021?
How much U.S. government funding did the Biden administration send to Ukraine and when?
How much humanitarian and development assistance has been sent abroad under Biden?
How do Congress-approved appropriations compare to actual overseas disbursements under Biden?
Which U.S. departments and programs handled major overseas transfers during Biden’s presidency?