Global Development: Views from the Center
« Poverty and Development at Davos: From Celebrity Glitz to Quiet Action | Main | The Cost of Coordinating AIDS Programs in Developing Countries »
February 07, 2006
President Bush's 2007 Budget Request
Posted by at 09:20 AM
President Bush yesterday released his budget request for fiscal year 2007, seeking a sizable increase in defense spending (mainly for equipment and weapons systems) while cutting the budgets of two-thirds of federal agencies. The picture for spending on development is a mixed one. Not surprisingly, the President calls for increased spending on his signature foreign aid programs, the Millennium Challenge Account and PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for Aid Relief). Accounts for narcotics control, peacekeeping, and educational and cultural programs – not considered official development assistance – also would see significant increases. What is arousing concern in development and aid circles, however, are the proposed cuts to "core" development accounts such as development assistance (15% reduction) and child survival and health (13% reduction). Today’s FT notes that, other than states that qualify for MCA funding, it’s the frontline states in the war on terror – Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq – that stand to gain the most aid in 2007. CGD analysis from 2005 showed how dramatically assistance for frontline states has increased since 9/11.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
/mt/mt-tb.cgi/278
Comments
As Greg Michaelidis rightly points out, the administration's FY07 budget submission offsets proposed increases in MCA and PEPFAR with some cuts in "core" development accounts. At least two other aspects of the foreign assistance budget are noteworthy:
First, the "drug war" comes out a real winner. The budget envisions a massive 70% increase in counternarcotics spending (particularly in Afghanistan), to $1.5 billion worldwide -- that's more than the total amount devoted to the core Development Assistance account.
Second, it's unclear how the budget relates to the main premise behind the National Security Strategy and Secretary Rice's "transformational diplomacy" agenda: that the main threats to U.S. and global security are weak and failing states in the developing world. The administration needs to spell out not just what it is spending in these various aid categories -- but how they relate in a coherent, strategic whole to address the arduous tasks of institution-building in failed and faltering countries.
Posted by: Stewart Patrick at February 7, 2006 11:30 AM
In their budget roll-out, the USAID briefer responded to a question by saying that there is no specific place within the foreign assistance accounts that reflects the "transformational diplomacy" agenda.
But, as the original post points out, the concern over poverty reduction losing ground to political objectives in any foreign assistance reform seems to be borne out by the winners and losers in this budget submission.
Posted by: Judah Ariel at February 7, 2006 03:34 PM