House FY27 Foreign Assistance Bill Includes MFAN Effectiveness Proposals, Rejects Administration’s Steep Funding Cuts

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 National Security, State Department, and Related Programs (NSRP) appropriations bill by a largely party-line vote of 217-209. Notably, the House bill once again rejects the Administration's call for deep cuts to foreign assistance, preserves core funding for global health, development, and humanitarian programs, and includes several aid effectiveness measures recommended by MFAN.

A year and a half since the Administration began sweeping changes and cuts to global health, development, and humanitarian assistance, the House measure is the latest indicator of the House Republican majority's views not only on foreign assistance funding levels but on how appropriated dollars should be spent to ensure effectiveness and transparency.

The House bill provides $47.3 billion — a 6% cut ($2.7billion) below FY26 enacted levels, but roughly $12 billion above the Administration's request. However, the headline funding numbers in the bill tell only part of the story: the measure also includes concrete directives on State Department capacity, monitoring and evaluation, transparency, and development finance recommended by MFAN:

• State Department capacity. The measure includes language on performance management, outcome-based reviews, and bureau grants management, and compliance certification. The report also calls for increased capacity in women's empowerment, one of many congressional priorities that are currently facing staffing capacity constraints.
• Country ownership and locally led development. The report supports efforts to transition partner countries toward country ownership and self-sufficiency, notably by authorizing Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) and Public Financial Management (PFM) activities by the State Department and requesting a briefing from the State and Treasury Department on each of their department's work on these issues. The bill also affirms the importance of localization and requires reporting from State on enabling more local leadership through internal systems and process reforms – language MFAN members recommended and worked with House champions to secure.
• Monitoring, evaluation, and learning. The bill dedicates $15 million for impact evaluations, requires a report on implementation of the multi-year foreign assistance effectiveness strategy, and calls for cost-effectiveness evidence to inform program design. Beneficiary feedback collection is also funded. MFAN requested much of this language and appreciates the efforts of the subcommittee to strengthen the evaluation and implementation reporting provisions.
• Accountability and transparency. The bill reaffirms the requirement for comprehensive agency reporting to FA.gov, including on project-level data on sub-awards, and full Foreign Assistance Transparency and Accountability Act (FATAA) compliance. Without clear and accessible information, it is difficult to assess whether assistance programming is being used effectively, lessons learned are being applied, and programs are achieving their intended impact.
• U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. The bill requires congressional consultation before the DFC operates in high-income countries, directs timely and accurate FA.gov reporting of DFC investments, and instructs the DFC to prioritize projects advancing U.S. development priorities and private sector development. Both issues — DFC's inadequate transparency and the erosion of its development mandate — have been repeated MFAN priorities, and the consultation requirement responds directly to our call for stronger congressional oversight.

These provisions reflect priorities MFAN and our members have advanced over the past year, and together they mark a step forward in what is needed to build the capacity and capabilities of the State Department and to ensure transparency and the development mandate of the DFC.

MFAN also commends the bill's separate funding line for the Foreign Assistance (formerly USAID) OIG and directs the relevant Inspectors General to brief Congress on how they will coordinate oversight. Keeping this funding line separate is a meaningful step toward protecting independent oversight of foreign assistance resources.

What We're Watching
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‍When FY27 appropriations are finalized, potentially later this year in the post-election, lame duck session, the real test will be implementation. The provisions in this year’s House bill are stronger and more specific than last year’s, but – as FY26 showed – bill language and report directives only matter if the Administration chooses to honor them and Congress is prepared to truly enforce its intent.

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About MFAN
The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) is a bipartisan coalition of international development practitioners, policy advocates, and experts committed to making U.S. foreign assistance more effective, accountable, and results-driven.
For media inquiries, please contact Madeleine Granda, MFAN Policy and Government Affairs Manager, at Madeleine.Granda@modernizeaid.net.

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