Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), along with Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), yesterday introduced legislation to address the challenges of urbanization in developing countries.
As Congress moves on the appropriations process, it is critical that the President’s FY 2011 International Affairs Budget Request is fully funded. MFAN Partner the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition created a Budget Update Center with a wealth of resources, including fact sheets, graphics, and statements on the budget process and why the International Affairs Budget plays … Continue reading Action Alert: MFAN Partners’ Budget Drives
In a new report by co-authors Noam Unger (Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution and MFAN Principal), Margaret Taylor (Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project), and Frederick Barton (former co-director of the CSIS Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project), policymakers are presented with key recommendations to inform a coherent and effective national approach to both stabilization and broader development.
Members of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s National Security Advisory Committee released a letter today urging Congress to boost development and diplomacy spending. “Our military works hand-in-hand with diplomats and development experts in meeting the challenges and responsibilities we face around the world,” said General Hagee. “It is critical that our civilian agencies are properly resourced so they can lead key elements of our national security strategy.”
In four separate hearings – on back-to-back days – before House and Senate authorizers and appropriators, Clinton discussed the budget request for U.S. foreign affairs spending and explicitly linked it to our national security and national interests.
The second installment in our “Best of 2009” series features key hearings from the House and Senate over the past year.
As 2010 begins, we are pleased to report that the community’s hard work over the last year has created unprecedented momentum towards our shared goals of elevating development as an enduring pillar of U.S. foreign policy and making U.S. foreign assistance more effective and accountable.
S.1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act, first introduced by Senators Kerry, Lugar, Menendez, and Corker has gained another Republican cosponsor. Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine, signed on yesterday–bringing the total number of cosponsors up to 23, with 7 Republican Senators.
Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a nomination hearing for Dr. Rajiv Shah, President Obama’s pick for Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Mr. Shah spoke eloquently about his role in helping to rebuild the crumbling aid agency and prevent further fragmentation of U.S. development programs, often deferring to parallel reviews being done at the White House and State Department – the cross-government Presidential Study Directive (PSD) on Global Development Policy and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), respectively.
In the aftermath of President Obama’s announcement of his new Afghanistan strategy and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s confirmation for USAID Administrator nominee Dr. Rajiv Shah, MFAN member and Oxfam VP of Policy and Advocacy Paul O’Brien appeared on CNN’s “Amanpour” to address the importance of U.S. development efforts in Afghanistan and foreign assistance reform more broadly.
