Senate appropriators recently slashed the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) funding from $1.5 billion in FY08 to $254 million for FY09. Senate appropriators argue the MCC has not spent the money it has or delivered enough results to warrant more funds in the face of pressing costs for security and humanitarian programs. CGD senior policy analyst Sheila Herrling says in a new MCA Monitor blog that the buzz cut from Senate appropriators is shortsighted and signals to developing countries that the U.S. doesn’t follow through on its aid commitments. She wonders about the implications of the move for the chances of reaching a grand bargain between Congress and the next administration to bring U.S. foreign assistance into the 21st century.
Read the blog and comment
