Elevating development as a national priority
May 21, 2009

IGD's ongoing advocacy to elevate development and poverty reduction as a national priority received two boosts last week. On Wednesday, May 20, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by Howard Berman (D-CA), passed a bill to reauthorize the diplomatic and development programs of the State Department. The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), of which IGD is a member, released this statement praising the bill as an important piece in the development assistance reform puzzle.

The following day, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry (D-MA) delivered an important speech at the Brookings Institution in which he called for rebuilding U.S. development capacity, clarifying U.S. foreign assistance policies and goals, better coordinating U.S. aid efforts, and streamlining outdated foreign assistance legislation. He also announced that, along with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN), he intends to introduce two pieces of legislation in the coming weeks: a Foreign Affairs Authorization Act that will authorize the State Department and related accounts as well as an initial foreign aid reform bill.

These events reflect continuing momentum on Capitol Hill toward significant and comprehensive reform of U.S. development assistance policy.