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.
The developmentistas are still largely enamored with the current administration and clinging to the hope that the PSD and QDDR processes will lead to a more prominent role for “development” within the U.S.
This is a joint post with Wren Elhai.
Everyone (John Kerry, Richard Lugar, Richard Holbrooke, and, yes, CGD’s own Nancy Birdsall) agrees our aid program in Pakistan needs to be more transparent. Transparent aid can help to counter the widespread mistrust and misinformation about U.S. practices, and could also allow Pakistani civil society to play a role in monitoring how governments and NGOs spend money. On the other hand, the status quo—a dearth of publicly accessible information on program objectives and spending -- “creates confusion and unnecessary speculation in Pakistan,” as Senator Kerry put it, “and limits the potential of the policy community and allies at home.”
Two major reviews on U.S. development policy—the Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy (PSD) and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR)—intend to make sense out of the confusing array of agencies and actors involved in U.S.
On September 3, Secretary Rice announced a $1 billion economic and humanitarian support program for Georgia. Included in that program is a $100 million top-up to the existing MCC $295 million compact with Georgia . The top-up will be funded through existing MCC FY08 funds that would likely have been used to fund a couple of threshold programs. On September 17, the MCC Board will be asked to approve this action.