Foreign Assistance Act

Foreign Assistance Act (1961)
Other short titles	Act for International Development of 1961; Foreign Aid Authorization Act of 1961;
Long title	An Act to promote the foreign policy, security, and general welfare of the United States by assisting peoples of the world in their efforts toward economic and social development and internal and external security, and for other purposes.
Nicknames	Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
Enacted by	the 87th United States Congress
Effective	September 4, 1961
Citations
Public law	87-195
Statutes at Large	75 Stat. 424-2
Codification
Titles amended	22 U.S.C.: Foreign Relations and Intercourse
U.S.C. sections created	22 U.S.C. ch. 32 § 2151
Legislative history
	Introduced in the Senate as S. 1983 by J. William Fulbright (D–AR) on May 26, 1961; Committee consideration by Senate Foreign Relations, House Foreign Affairs; Passed the Senate on August 18, 1961 (66–24); Passed the House on August 18, 1961 (287–140, in lieu of H.R. 8400); Reported by the joint conference committee on August 31, 1961; agreed to by the Senate on August 31, 1961 (69–24) and by the House on August 31, 1961 (260–132); Signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on September 4, 1961;
Major amendments
	Foreign Assistance Act of 1974; Global Food Security Act of 2016

The Foreign Assistance Act (Pub. L. 87–195, 75 Stat. 424-2, enacted September 4, 1961, 22 U.S.C. § 2151 et seq.) is a United States federal law that provides the basic statutory framework for most U.S. foreign assistance and security assistance programs. The Act reorganized the patchwork of foreign aid authorities created after World War II, repealed the Mutual Security Act of 1954, and consolidated economic and military assistance under a single legislative framework, codified mainly in chapter 32 of title 22 of the United States Code. It was passed by Congress in August 1961 and signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on September 4,1961.

The Act set out broad development and security objectives, calling for a “long-range and interrelated” strategy to promote economic growth, political independence, and internal and external security in partner countries. It directed the president to establish a new agency to administer nonmilitary economic and technical assistance. Pursuant to this authority, Kennedy issued Executive Order 10973 on November 3, 1961, delegating foreign assistance functions to the Secretary of State and providing for the establishment of the Agency for International Development (AID, now the USAID) as the principal administrator of economic assistance programs.

Since 1961 the Foreign Assistance Act has been extensively amended to reflect changing U.S. foreign policy priorities. Major amendments added human-rights conditions on aid, restructured security assistance, and created or updated authorities related to child survival, HIV/AIDS, and global food security, among other areas. These changes include the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, which added sections 116 and 502B on human rights, the Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005, and the Global Food Security Act of 2016.