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The U.S. budget for international affairs will face significant pressures in the coming years under almost any imaginable scenario. A divisive political environment, worries about the economic recovery, concerns over rising budget deficits and national debt, and upcoming elections will make it difficult for policymakers to reach agreement on budget priorities.
Within this context, the Center for Global Development (CGD) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) convened the Working Group on Aid Priorities amid Declining Resources to develop recommendations for more sensible priorities in the U.S. international affairs budget. The resulting proposals—based on consultative meetings, one-on-one interviews, literature reviews, and working group deliberations—informed the basis of the report, Engagement amid Austerity: A Bipartisan Approach to Reorienting the International Affairs Budget co-authored by John Norris, executive director of the CAP’s Sustainable Security and Peacebuilding Initiative, and Connie Veillette, director of CGD’s Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Initiative.
Veillette and Norris argue that bipartisan support is essential to modernize America’s approach to diplomacy and development. They make four recommendations to get a better return on U.S. international affairs investments:
- Focus U.S. economic and security assistance programs by putting more money into fewer countries and centering efforts where governments are willing to embrace reform and make aid programs more likely to succeed. The report includes a rating of all 146 countries that currently receive U.S. economic and security assistance and recommends concentrating assistance in some countries and reducing or eliminating it in others.
- Accelerate cost-sharing arrangements with upper middle income recipients of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), including Botswana, the Dominican Republic, Namibia, South Africa, and the Caribbean and Central American regions.
- Overhaul U.S. food aid laws and regulations to end U.S. cargo preference, eliminate monetized food aid, and allow for more local and regional food purchases.
- Establish an International Affairs Realignment Commission akin to the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission—to overhaul U.S. foreign affairs agencies and operations. The International Affairs Realignment Commission would present a package of institutional and program reforms for an up or down approval by the administration and Congress.
If you have comments or ideas, or would like to know more about the working group, please contact us at aidpriorities@cgdev.org.
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This report takes a look at the Obama administration's FY2012 budget request and congressional reaction to gauge the potential for implementing foreign aid reforms as spelled out in the administration's policy documents.
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This brief details how the new Congress could save more than $500 million annually by eliminating unnecessary regulations currently in place that are incredibly wasteful, anticompetitive, and make it harder to carry out effective development programs abroad.
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This USAID Monitor Analysis focuses on the effects of the FY2011 budget agreement on the foreign assistance accounts portion of the function 150 budget. While the cuts are not as deep as many expected, they are still significant and will prove challenging for the State Department and USAID.
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In this paper, Connie Veillette presents the problems that beset the existing process for budgeting and resource allocation, and argue that the process is backwards. Instead of using baseline budgets and existing resources to dictate objectives, policymakers should clearly define and articulate the...
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This brief details how the new Congress could save more than $500 million annually by eliminating unnecessary regulations currently in place that are incredibly wasteful, anticompetitive, and make it harder to carry out effective development programs abroad.
-
In this paper, Connie Veillette presents the problems that beset the existing process for budgeting and resource allocation, and argue that the process is backwards. Instead of using baseline budgets and existing resources to dictate objectives, policymakers should clearly define and articulate the...
-
This report takes a look at the Obama administration's FY2012 budget request and congressional reaction to gauge the potential for implementing foreign aid reforms as spelled out in the administration's policy documents.
-
This USAID Monitor Analysis focuses on the effects of the FY2011 budget agreement on the foreign assistance accounts portion of the function 150 budget. While the cuts are not as deep as many expected, they are still significant and will prove challenging for the State Department and USAID.
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Aid for a Purpose: Show Me the Goal, Then Show Me the Money
- Mar 2, 2011
In this paper, Connie Veillette presents the problems that beset the existing process for budgeting and resource allocation, and argue that the process is backwards. Instead of using baseline budgets and existing resources to dictate objectives, policymakers should clearly define and articulate the...
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