Former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlin, says the US should direct aid given to Pakistan towards the needs of the Pakistani people. (0:27)
Former US Ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlin, said that US aid to the people of Pakistan should be based on the needs of the people, not merely based on a limiting budget passed by Congress. (0:27)
A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) roundtable discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discussed the future role of the United States in the global development process.
“We…can improve and strengthen our own interests as a country by helping to improve the lives of others all around the world,” said Reuben Brigety, Director of the Sustainable Security Program at the Center for American Progress. This is “quite revolutionary in the eyes of some people who consider themselves proper foreign policy experts or security experts.” Brigety spoke of the need for the United States to lead a multilateral effort with the UNDP in developing countries, avoiding natural disasters and strengthening national security. “I think that…there are enormous security challenges in many parts of the world, but I also think we are at a stage where we have the greatest political opportunity to address them,” said Brigety.
“There are thousands of people interested in this [foreign aid reform], and it’s not just the development community, it’s the foreign policy community, its the national security community that are not just supporting foreign aid reform and modernizing, they’re demanding it,” said George Ingram, Vice President & Executive Director of the Education Policy and Data Center at the Academy for Educational Development. “Obama has called for doubling the foreign assistance budget by 2021,” said Ingram, referring to the role the incoming administration has promised to embrace as a multilateral leader of global development.
“Multilateralism is…merged into some vague evil concept of supernationalism,” said Bruce Jenks, UN Assistant Secretary-General & Director of Partnership Bureau of the UNDP, “to me the irony is…it’s the opposite.” Jenks described that there was an enormous opportunity for the United States to lead a multilateral coalition. “Multilateralism needs to be seen as an instrument of choice in the national interest,” said Jenks. There’s “a myth…that multilateralism is an alternative to leadership…There’s no such thing as un-lead multilateralism or blind multilateralism, multilateralism must be lead.”
Sen. Menendez (D-N.J.) says institution-building is the most important part of foreign aid even though it does not bring immediate dividends. (0:43)
Sen. Menendez (D-N.J.) sees foreign aid to Latin and South America as mutually beneficial for them and the United States. (0:41)
Inequality of wealth in Latin and South America is among the worst in the world said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in a hearing today. He said that the richest 20 percent in Latin America accumulate about 57 percent of the wealth. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) agreed, saying that Brazil, the 11th largest economy worldwide, includes 35 million people living in extreme poverty.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee met to discuss the need of foreign aid given to Latin and South America. Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) said that this issue has gotten “not enough attention” from Congress. Menendez echoed Payne’s sentiment saying, “Overall engagement outside of our borders has been controversial to disastrous.”
Beyond inequality of wealth, members of the committee said there were more reasons to aid these countries. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said that foreign aid could have a direct result on current immigration issues. Sen. Menendez said that foreign aid to these areas would create more customers for the United States’ economic goods.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) describes an exchange yesterday before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs when he asked a representative of the State Department whether they ever considered whether the aid money sent to Georgia could be better used to help people in the United States. Paul says the State Department official responded, “Nope, never thought of that.” Paul was speaking at a press conference on third-party presidential candidates at the National Press Club. (0:39)
At a hearing held by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, Richard Greene, deputy director of U.S. foreign assistance at the State Department describes how there are always more variables to consider in foreign assistance, but there is also more promise and hope. (0:31)
At a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, Congressman George Voinovich (R-Ohio) says the current U.S. foreign aid system is a “cumbersome…relic of the Cold War” requiring consolidation.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia held a hearing on consolidating U.S. foreign assistance bureaucracy. (more…)
