Bipartisan Commission Aims to Overhaul U.S. Foreign Aid
One year after the closure of USAID sparked the largest decline in global development spending on record, a new bipartisan commission is launching to draft a blueprint for the future of American foreign assistance. The ten-member body seeks to bridge deep political divides to restore aid as a pillar of national security.
Co-chaired by former South Carolina Governor David Beasley and former Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, the Commission on the Future of Foreign Assistance plans to spend the next year identifying reforms to improve accountability and effectiveness. The initiative, backed by The Rockefeller Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, arrives as official development assistance faces a 23.1% contraction, following the 2025 shuttering of USAID.
Despite the recent legislative volatility, polling from Echelon Insights suggests a path forward remains viable. Data shows that 8 in 10 Americans prefer to see foreign aid reformed rather than eliminated, a sentiment that the commission hopes to leverage. With analytical support from the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution, the group aims to translate this public mandate into a sustainable, bipartisan strategy for 2027.
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