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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog
Posts Tagged: Foreign Assistance ActRep. Berman Offers Grand Bargains. Any Buyers?September 12, 2011Posted by Connie Veillette in Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: Foreign Assistance Act
Representative Howard Berman released draft legislation, the Global Partnerships Act, that would rewrite the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. As noted here earlier, the FAA has not been re-authorized by Congress since 1985. Berman, previously as chairman and currently as ranking minority member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, directed his staff to craft a bill that updated U.S. foreign assistance laws to reflect a world with new threats and plenty of new actors. In doing so, his staff recognized the need to create opportunities for grand bargains. Grand bargains are hard to achieve, but they can, by definition, offer benefits for both sides. Yes, it involves compromise – something in short supply these days – but a grand bargain implies more than just compromise. It promises a tangible benefit in exchange for relinquishing an asset. You give me a good enough price, and I’ll give up some hard-earned cash. Of course, the price I want to pay may be too low, and that’s where the compromise comes in. You get a little less than you want, and I pay a little more than I had planned. To reach a grand bargain means that policymakers in the administration and Congress, as well as in the aid community, need to consider the costs and payoffs before agreeing to start the bargaining process. Read More… Comment »Why We Need a New Foreign Assistance Act. (Hint: It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again.)September 6, 2011Posted by Connie Veillette in Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: Foreign Assistance Act
With the planned release this Thursday of a draft Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) from Ranking Minority Member Howard Berman, I began to reflect on how to explain the need for revisions to the current law. After all, some folks in the Administration would rather stick with what we have than expend time and effort in writing a more up-to-date act. So with the help of a former president, here’s my first attempt at an explanation. What exactly is the FAA and why should anyone care? The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is the main legislative framework for U.S. foreign assistance. Most current aid programs derive their authority from this document. Since 1961 Congress has regularly updated the FAA via reauthorizations, but the latest revision occurred in 1985. Not that attempts haven’t been made in the intervening years, but moving foreign aid legislation to the floor of both the House and Senate has become increasingly problematic. Read More… Comment »Dear Clinton, Jones, and Summers: Five Step Improvement Plan for U.S. DevelopmentJuly 15, 2010Posted by Nancy Birdsall in Aid Effectiveness, Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: development policy, Foreign Assistance Act, psd, USAID
Six months after the Haiti quake, many people are frustrated that the U.S.-led relief and reconstruction effort has not made more rapid progress. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Raj Shah are headed for Pakistan, where the strategic stakes are larger, development challenges even more complicated, and U.S. policy muddled at best. Eighteen months into the administration, the federal government remains abysmally organized to address Haiti, Pakistan and other development challenges. When it comes to global development, I’d give President Obama and his top advisors an A for strategic vision and a big fat F for failure to get on with it. Hillary Clinton gave a great speech about development way back in January, pegged to the appointment (finally) of a new head of USAID. A draft presidential study directive leaked two months ago said all the right things (development is about trade, climate and migration policy not just aid and the U.S. government should eschew doing everything in favor of what it can do especially well). But objections presumably from the State Department about the proposed “architecture” (who is in charge of what) are apparently stalling its release – to the point where the passage of time risks making it irrelevant. The White House incorporated the good vision in the leaked PSD into a press release on “a new approach to advancing development” issued at the G8 – so between Secretary Clinton and the White House strategy: An A for vision. Read More… Comment »Berman, Don’t Create Development Policy Groundhog DayJuly 14, 2010Posted by Todd Moss in Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: Foreign Assistance Act
I think almost everyone agrees that the existing legislation that governs U.S. foreign assistance is one of the prime reasons American aid is so muddled. New laws are surely needed. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) released parts of a consultation draft of his proposed Global Partnership Act of 2010 and my colleague Sarah Jane Staats has already posted a good analysis of the pros and cons. Yet one provision made me gasp in horror: Section 1017 mandates a new ‘‘United States Strategy for Global Development’’ to be written every four years by a committee (also mandated) representing at least fourteen (!) federal agencies. Of course, who could be against setting a coherent interagency strategy? But let’s imagine what this provision might really create in practice, given experience and what we know about how the U.S. government operates. I can think of three possibilities: Read More… Comment »Sneak Peek At New Foreign Assistance Act: What Do You Think?July 13, 2010Posted by Sarah Jane Staats in Aid Effectiveness, Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Tags: Foreign Assistance Act, On the Hill, USAID
The development community is getting a sneak peek at the first sections of a new U.S. foreign assistance act. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and his staff released the first 55 pages of a new Global Partnership Act of 2010 discussion draft, aiming to replace the outdated and unwieldy Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. It’s a first step towards clarifying the mission, mandate and structure of U.S. foreign assistance programs, but also an opportunity to strengthen the draft before it is introduced as legislation. There is a lot to like about the new draft sections of the bill. Above all, it attempts to make sense of the complex web of rules, regulations, objectives and directives tacked onto the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act and begins to fulfill Berman’s promise to reassert congressional authorizers in the process of legislating U.S. foreign assistance. My top three “likes” in the bill: Read More… Comment »
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