After DOGE cuts, State Department awards $240M to Catholic international aid group

(RNS) — More than a year after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency slashed federal funding for Catholic Relief Services as it dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Department announced it would give the Catholic agency more than $240 million for humanitarian and disaster response assistance.

Catholic Relief Services is the international relief arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and it partners with other Catholic relief organizations that are also members of Caritas Internationalis around the globe. CRS was the top recipient of funding from USAID. 

In a Friday (June 5) press release, the State Department said the funding for CRS would be used for food, water, health, sanitation and shelter in “countries with significant levels of humanitarian need,” including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria and Sudan. CRS is already working to respond to the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Before last year’s USAID cuts, federal funding supported about half of CRS’ $1.5 billion budget, making the $240 million grant a fraction of the support the agency once received from the government.

Alistair Dutton, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organization over CRS, told RNS last year that U.S. aid cuts would cause millions of people to die and hundreds of millions to suffer.

The State Department said this grant would be the first in a series of awards to “trusted and vetted implementing organizations” focused on lifesaving assistance that are able to respond to crises around the world within 24 hours. 

The Harry S. Truman Building, headquarters for the State Department, is seen in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

In the past several months, CRS has been a key partner for the State Department in providing humanitarian aid to Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed U.S. aid to Cuba — which is facing widespread humanitarian issues from Hurricane Melissa and fuel shortages compounded by a U.S. oil blockade — to be provided through the Catholic Church, as he pushes for regime change in the country. Rubio has accused Cuba’s military generals of corruptly hoarding funds that could address the humanitarian disaster.

The State Department’s press release cites that partnership, writing, “in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, CRS demonstrated the capacity to provide assistance in challenging political environments, such as Cuba, where its local partnerships enabled humanitarian assistance to reach those in need without regime interference.”

The announcement was made Friday in Rome by Ryan Shrum, State Department Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response senior bureau official, who was joined by Brian Burch, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See; Lynda Blanchard, permanent representative of the United States to the U.N. agencies in Rome; Jennifer Poidatz, CRS vice president for humanitarian response; and Dutton.

“CRS is grateful for the opportunity to reach more people affected by crisis, at a time when humanitarian needs far exceed available resources,” Poidatz said in a CRS press release. “We appreciate the leadership of the United States and of national governments committed to responding to new and enduring crises.”