The Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently held a hearing on empowering Haiti to rebuild better featuring Chris Milligan (USAID coordinator for Haiti), Kenneth Merten (U.S.
This is a joint post with Sarah Jane Staats.
The president and the secretary of state have promised to elevate and strengthen U.S. global development policy in our national interests. In Haiti there is an opportunity to make that promise real–building on the generosity of the American people and the inherent organizational capability of our government. Getting immediate relief to the earthquake’s victims is the critical issue right now. But how we do it matters for the long-term stability of Haiti, the U.S. image abroad and our larger foreign policy interests. Unfortunately, the situation today is highlighting the fissures in the U.S. management of development programs that could put our development goals and leadership at risk in Haiti and beyond.
What do we mean? In Haiti, all three U.S. foreign policy tools—defense, diplomacy and development—in the form of officials and staff of the Department of Defense, Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are front and center in the news and on the ground. But who is in charge? We see the situation in Haiti as requiring above all leadership from the development side.
Today, the full Senate will in all likelihood pass a supplemental appropriations bill that includes two amendments introduced by Senator Gregg (R-NH) that cut long-term international development funding from the Millennium Challenge Account to pay for additional emergency disaster assistance and political aid to Jordan.