CQ Today quoted director of policy outreach Sarah Jane Staats in an article on the 112th Congress and the potential for a foreign aid overhaul.
From the article:
At the request of the Obama administration, Berman held off trying to move a bill while the White House and State Department conducted their own development policy reviews. The former was concluded in September, while State’s review still awaits release. Berman’s plan was to introduce a bill next year.
“Berman was very patient,” said Sarah Jane Staats, director of policy outreach at the Center for Global Development, which largely supported the chairman’s legislation. “Now, we see, maybe too patient.”
Senate backers of a foreign aid overhaul view Berman’s departure from the House chairmanship as a setback. In the Senate, measures to improve foreign aid and strengthen the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have the backing of a bipartisan group including Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and the panel’s top Republican, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana. But without corresponding efforts in the House, senators are unlikely to push any major initiatives, one senior Democratic aide said.