As budget hearings wind down, the Senate Foreign Relations International Development Subcommittee is holding a complementary hearing titled "Different Perspectives on International Development Assistance" and CGD's own Todd Moss is testifying. Also testifying are Bill Lane from Caterpillar and John Murphy from the Chamber of Commerce.
Different perspectives indeed. It's great to see that Chairman Kaine (D-VA) and Ranking Member Barrasso (R-WY) are conceiving of US development assistance as much broader than the traditional foreign aid structure.
What can we expect from Todd?
It's no secret that US development assistance, particularly our foreign aid architecture, is dated and often painfully dysfunctional. I expect Todd to give a candid assessment of where the US is at on what Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard called the “Spaghetti Chart” of US foreign assistance before she headed into the Administration. But I also expect him to offer some solutions, particularly on a much-needed amp up of US development finance. And I hope we'll hear from him on just why development assistance is so important for the United States--an analysis that is easily lost in a difficult budget environment.
It's worth tuning in here to watch the hearing at 10:30 Wednesday.
