--- title: Biden Previews Obama $1 Billion Request in Central American Investment description: Biden says cost of investment is "modest compared with the costs of letting violence and poverty fester.” canonical: https://time.com/3688874/biden-obama-central-america-investment/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-30T01:27:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:00:21.910Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama to Request $1 Billion for Investment in Central America og:description: Vice President Joe Biden outlines plan in op-ed og:url: https://time.com/3688874/biden-obama-central-america-investment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2cad8fe7e5d88f1/69877cb68e060138e945a070/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama making opening remarks at the House Democratic Issues Conference in Philadelphia on Jan. 29, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama to Request $1 Billion for Investment in Central America twitter:description: Vice President Joe Biden outlines plan in op-ed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2cad8fe7e5d88f1/69877cb68e060138e945a070/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama to Request $1 Billion for Investment in Central America by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 30, 2015 1:27 AM UTC  President Barack Obama making opening remarks at the House Democratic Issues Conference in Philadelphia on Jan. 29, 2015. President Barack Obama making opening remarks at the House Democratic Issues Conference in Philadelphia on Jan. 29, 2015.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 30, 2015 1:27 AM UTC President Barack Obama will request $1 billion from Congress on Monday to aid Central American governments making tough reforms as more youth seek opportunities in the United States, Vice President Joe Biden wrote in an op-ed [published](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/opinion/joe-biden-a-plan-for-central-america.html) Thursday. That amount, he adds, is “almost three times what we generally have provided to Central America.” Biden’s op-ed for the New York _Times_ details that the funds would go toward security, governance and economic investments in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—where the bulk of the children who cross America’s southwestern border traveled from last summer. He uses past investments in Colombia to combat poverty, corruption and drug trafficking—amounting to $9 billion since 1999—as a barometer of success and notes that Obama “has asked me to lead this new effort.” “The cost of investing now in a secure and prosperous Central America is modest compared with the costs of letting violence and poverty fester,” Biden writes. “Together, we can help Central America become an embodiment of the Western Hemisphere’s remarkable rise—not an exception to it.” Read more at [_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/opinion/joe-biden-a-plan-for-central-america.html)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3688874/biden-obama-central-america-investment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3688874/biden-obama-central-america-investment/"},"headline":"Obama to Request $1 Billion for Investment in Central America","datePublished":"2015-01-30T01:27:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:00:21.910Z","description":"Vice President tapped by Obama to \"lead this new effort\"","url":"https://time.com/3688874/biden-obama-central-america-investment/","keywords":["White House","Budget"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2cad8fe7e5d88f1/69877cb68e060138e945a070/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2cad8fe7e5d88f1/69877cb68e060138e945a070/obama4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama making opening remarks at the House Democratic Issues Conference in Philadelphia on Jan. 29, 2015.","caption":"Barack Obama,","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3688874/biden-obama-central-america-investment/","name":"Obama to Request $1 Billion for Investment in Central America"}}]}] ```