I’m guessing I’m not the only one still in a state of denial that sequestration will actually happen. The across-the-board cuts—if and when they happen tonight—will hit my own household (I’m married to my favorite bureaucrat) and the US foreign aid programs I monitor here.
When US troops leave Afghanistan, will US aid dollars be withdrawn as well? The Obama administration says no. But House Republicans are beginning to push back, bolstered by damning testimony from the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the watchdog tasked with overseeing US aid to Afghanistan, arguing that American aid is being wasted on a corrupt regime.
“Conditionality” in foreign aid often gets a bad rap, but are there circumstances in which it works? The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) provides large-scale development assistance to selected poor but well-governed countries, chosen primarily based on their performance on a set of publicly available policy indicators (a type of ex ante conditionality). MCC’s selection system is touted as an incentive for countries to pursue policy reform in order to gain MCC eligibility, a phenomenon nicknamed: the “MCC Effect”. However, there is limited
The US military’s recently signed Status-of-Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Niger for a planned surveillance drone base is only the latest development in the Pentagon and the CIA’s expanding presence on the continent. It also portends the increased use of drone strikes against terrorist targets in Africa.
Senator John Kerry aced his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State and all but guaranteed that he would win a speedy confirmation from the Senate – possibly as soon as this week.
Sen. John Kerry will be questioned by his Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) colleagues this week during his confirmation hearing to become the next Secretary of State. My colleague Jenny Ottenhoff shared what she’d like to hear members ask Kerry, including a question on the future of US foreign aid. Turns out Sen.
In a recent blog, my colleague posed a set of questions for members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ask Senator Kerry in his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State. One is about the United States’ work to support development in Pakistan:
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) will join his fellow members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a routine confirmation hearing on January 24, but this time he won’t be holding the gavel. Instead, as President Obama’s nominee to be the next secretary of state, Sen. Kerry will take questions from the committee on how he would carry out the Obama administration's foreign policy priorities.
Following President Obama’s nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) for Secretary of Defense, preparations for what is sure to be a nasty (but from both sides of the aisle!) confirmation hearing are in full swing.
In addition to budget woes, a pivot to Asia, continued crises in the Middle East, and the unknowns the next few years will bring, the new secretary is also likely to play a role in shaping US development policies and efforts.
There's some happy news for foreign aid in the new year: the White House appointed nine members to the President's Global Development Council, the US House of Representatives passed an aid transparency bill 390-0, and the fiscal cliff deal postpones across-the-board budget cuts.
The President's Global Development Council