CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

One Trillion for the Pentagon, and Wanting More. Less Than Half of One Percent for Humanity

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on July 22 to increase defense spending by US$73 billion. At about the same time as the House vote, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that it will be moving to a smaller building in Geneva because of budget cuts.

The contrast could hardly be starker. One decision expands America’s capacity to wage war; the other diminishes its capacity to save lives. “Without immediate support, women and girls at extreme risk of rape and other abuse are losing access to services that kept them safe. Children are being left without teachers or schools, pushing them into child labour, trafficking or early marriage. Refugee communities will have less shelter, water and food.” UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi warned in March 2025.

Under its mandate, UNHCR is responsible for 122 million refugees and internally displaced people worldwide. The United States’ contribution to UNHCR was around $2 billion in 2024, 40% of the voluntary funding. It has been slashed to $868 million. More than 5,000 staff have been laid off.

At a time when one in every seventy people on Earth has been forced to flee, what will an additional US$73 billion for the Pentagon do for those 122 million people?

UNHCR’s situation is part of a broader pattern of U.S. humanitarian cutbacks. Under Donald Trump, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (which includes development assistance, humanitarian aid, economic assistance, and much global health funding) has fallen from roughly $36 billion to about $19 billion, a 47% cut. The result is an estimated US$3–4 billion annual reduction in U.S. support for Geneva-based international organisations and the vulnerable people they serve.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has had to shrink its program budget after the U.S. announced it........

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