Foreign-Aid Program May Be Hamstrung by Budget

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Foreign-Aid Program May Be Hamstrung by Budget

Bush Program Faces Hit as Countries Near Large Deals
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
January 22, 2007; Page A7

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's signature foreign-assistance program is likely to run out of money this year, leaving in the lurch several poor countries that have labored to meet its strict eligibility standards, according to aid officials. Mr. Bush introduced the Millennium Challenge program in 2002 as a new approach to fix the perceived failures of overseas-development assistance.

The grants would be large enough to transform the recipient nations' economic fortunes, he said then, and the money would go only to countries that met quantitative standards for honest government, free-market policies and generous social spending. Now the program's budget is expected to fall short of its projected needs by $400 million to $1 billion, depending on the outcome of congressional negotiations over the coming weeks. The crunch comes at a time when Morocco, Tanzania, Mozambique and several other developing nations are nearing agreements on huge aid packages.

(snip)

When the program was launched, the president promised to secure $5 billion a year from Congress for his plan. Instead, he has consistently asked lawmakers for less than that, and lawmakers have consistently provided less than he requested. The Republican-led Congress failed to complete fiscal 2007 spending bills before this month's hand-over to the Democrats. It appears likely that the Democrats will hold this year's spending largely to 2006 levels and focus instead on the fiscal 2008 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1.

"The Republicans' failure to get the job done will unfortunately leave a number of agencies in a situation that is less than ideal," said Rep. Nita Lowey, New York Democrat and chairwoman of the subcommittee that funds the aid effort.

(snip)

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116942205376283153.html

[More Than A Feeling]

1. Kick. This is at least as important as '08 at this point. n/t

[question everything]

2. Would be interesting to know where all the candidates

stand on this... or whether Congress is going to do something about