US senator: ‘Much more money than you would think’ in US development

As the United States and its European allies ramp up defense spending in response to growing global instability, development advocates are worried that aid budgets could be squeezed out. Devex spoke with U.S. Sen. Chris Coons while walking through the crowded hallways of the Munich Security Conference last week. He spoke about where development fits into this new geopolitical moment, the state of bipartisan support for aid, and what comes next. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. “If you assume that DOGE destroyed all of our development infrastructure and it’s gone, it’s not gone. But to restore it to being healthy, to restore it to being viable, is going to take a lot of work.” --— U.S. Sen. Chris Coons As defense spending rises in the U.S. and Europe, where does development fit into the conversation? We’re facing a global crisis — not just of conflict, but of confidence. We’re not going to achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals. For the global focus on climate and how climate is impacting food security, desertification, and migration, the United States is not the only country that has stepped back, but in some ways it is the most important country that has stepped back. And it has given permission to other countries and other governments. Something that has been missed by most of our allies is that at the very end, the appropriations bill that we passed and [U.S. President Donald] Trump signed, funded much more of development, public health, support of food programs, for [the International Organization for Migration] and for the U.N. There is much more money than you would think. If you assume that DOGE [the short-lived Department of Government Efficiency] destroyed all of our development infrastructure and it’s gone, it’s not gone. But to restore it to being healthy, to restore it to being viable, is going to take a lot of work. What do you have to do now to make this viable? Build bipartisan consensus behind how to effectively deliver development. Engage and sustain our allies and partner nations in that work. And don’t give up. Don’t get overwhelmed. But yes, there are still actions and rhetoric that make partners nervous. We have to keep reinforcing the bipartisan foundation underneath development policy. Who are your key partners across the aisle? There have long been Republicans who understand that development strengthens U.S. global leadership and security. Those partnerships ebb and flow with politics, but they’re still there.