No MCA Money at the Finish Line for Tanzania?

Last week, the Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors approved a $698 million compact with Tanzania. In many ways, the MCC's partnership with Tanzania is a model of how the Millennium Challenge Account was designed to work—rewarding a country for strong policy reform and graduation from MCA's threshold program. Part of the MCA agreement, however, is that the U.S. has funding for the full five-year compact amount when it is signed. CGD's MCA Monitor team explains that Tanzania won't be assured of getting the money until the U.S. Congress makes its FY2008 budget decision this week or next, but argues that an amendment from Senator Lugar (R-IN) to require only half of the funding upfront would undermine the MCA’s innovative approach rather than save it.