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Lauren Carroll
By Lauren Carroll December 20, 2016
Back to Provide at least $2 billion for services to Iraqi refugees

US spent $2.5 billion on displaced Iraqis over Obama's two terms

Going into his first term, President Barack Obama promised to spend $2 billion "to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries."

By the end of those four years, we found that Obama hadn't kept this promise. Now, at the end of his second term, we decided to check the spending again.

There isn't a specific line item in the federal budget for dollars going to aid Iraqi refugees residing in neighboring countries. But State Department staffers were able to calculate the spending for us using internal numbers.

They found that the United States government has spent about $2.5 billion on humanitarian aid for displaced Iraqis in neighboring countries and within Iraq over the course of Obama's presidency, from fiscal years 2009-15.

This spending may not have occurred as early in his presidency as Obama intended. As we noted previously, the civil war in Syria has diverted attention to the refugee crisis there.

However, $2.5 billion in spending exceeds the amount Obama promised. We rate this a Promise Kept.

Our Sources

Email interview, Danna Van Brandt, spokesperson, Bureau of Population Refugees, and Migration, State Department, Dec. 16, 2016