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GAO-20-163R 1 (2020-03-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeasl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 March 4, 2020 Congressional Requesters U.S. Assistance to Central America: Status of Funding The United States has provided assistance to Central American countries for many years to address poverty, weak governance, and insecurity. This assistance has been administered by multiple federal agencies in support of several initiatives, including the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) and the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America (Strategy). You asked us to review the assistance provided to Central America. In this report, we provide information on the status of funding for U.S. assistance to Central America from fiscal years 2013 through 2018 as of March 30, 2019.1 According to State Department officials, after March 30, 2019, State began the process of reprogramming certain unobligated balances for funding previously designated for the Northern Triangle countries. For example, on at least 3 occasions, State has notified Congress of its intention to reprogram funds previously designated for Northern Triangle countries. However, the data in this report does not reflect any reprogramming decisions made after March 30, 2019. To provide information on U.S. funding, we collected and reviewed data and documents from the Departments of State (State), Agriculture (USDA), and Defense (DOD),2 and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), including data on allocations, obligations, and disbursements of funds for assistance activities from fiscal years 2013 through 2018.3 We interviewed relevant officials from these agencies regarding these documents and data, including the reliability of the data the agencies provided. We determined that the data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our reporting objectives. For additional details about our scope and methodology, see enclosure I. We conducted this performance audit from January 2019 to February 2020 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 1We conducted our last comprehensive review of U.S. assistance to Central America in fiscal year 2013. See GAO, Central America: U.S. Agencies Considered Various Factors in Funding Security Activities, but Need to Assess Progress in Achieving Interagency Objectives, GAO-1 3-771 (Washington, D.C.: Sep 25, 2013). 2DOD provided these data for its Operations and Maintenance (O&M) funding, but for its Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid (OHDACA), Counternarcotics (CN), and Section 333 (foreign security forces capability building) funding, DOD was able only to provide data on obligations within the timeframe of this engagement, rather than the allocation, obligation (balance), and disbursement data GAO requested. 3State and USAID provided funding data on a combined basis. According to agency officials, commensurate with other significant regional foreign assistance initiatives in the Western Hemisphere, CARSI and Strategy activities managed by State and USAID are designed and frequently appropriated to complement one another. State and USAID combine funding data because this presentation provides a holistic picture of State and USAID's efforts in the region. GAO-20-163R U.S. Assistance to Central America Page 1

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