Foreign Aid Reform Introduced in the Senate

Bread for the World Urges Senators To Pass Initial Aid Reform Bill

Washington, DC, July 28, 2009—Bread for the World President Rev. David Beckmann urged members of the Senate to promptly pass a bill introduced today aimed at revitalizing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The bipartisan bill -- the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S.1524) -- was introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Bob Corker (R-TN), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jim Risch (R-ID).

“Revitalizing USAID is crucial to the overall reform of U.S. foreign assistance,” said Rev. Beckmann. “If the Obama Administration and Congress improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance, our dollars will do more good for decades to come.”

USAID was created to lead U.S. development efforts and was once the premier development agency in the world. However, after years of benign neglect and proliferating aid programs across the U.S. government, USAID has lost much of its professional capacity, expertise and authority.

The bill includes a formal statement that it is U.S. policy to promote global development, good governance, and the reduction of poverty and hunger. It contains provisions for restoring planning, policy, and evaluation capacities to USAID. It also lays out new transparency measures for U.S. foreign assistance.

Rev. Beckmann, who is also co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Aid Network, called for the immediate appointment of an administrator for USAID. He said that an administrator should be in place to provide a development perspective as the State Department institutes a quadrennial review and develops a blueprint for U.S. diplomatic and development efforts.

He cautioned that without a USAID administrator, the State Department’s review has the potential to blur the important distinction between diplomacy and development. “When we try to achieve development and diplomatic goals with the same dollars, aid is usually much less effective in reducing poverty,” said Rev. Beckmann.

The Senate bill introduced today complements the efforts of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA-28) and his initial aid reform bill, H.R. 2139, which currently has 91 bipartisan cosponsors.

Rev. Beckmann added that the White House, the State Department, and USAID should work closely with the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in order to coordinate foreign aid reform efforts.

The Girl Effect

"Imagine a girl in poverty. Go ahead, imagine her..."

This short text driven movie helps illustrate how girls in poverty, when given an opportunity, can change the world. Take a look...

The Girl Effect

...and consider these important facts:

- When a girl in the developing world receives 7 or more years of education, she marries 4 years later and has 2.2 fewer children
-Educated girls grow into educated women who have healthier babies and are more likely to educate their own kids
-When women earnn income, they reinvest 90% of it into their famillies as compared to only 30 to 40% for a man
-An extra year of primary school boosts girls' future wages by 10-20%
-An extra year of secondary schoo; boosts girls' future wages by 15-25%

Please visit this website for more important facts and actions to help you improve the health, education and the very lives of girls around the world!

“Let's Talk Bread” Group—Evanston, IL July 28

"Let’s Talk Bread" is a group of Chicago-area people, who are interested in exploring the connections between faith and public policy. Through lively, monthly conversations—whether discussing a book, article or current event— we hope to better understand the problems of poverty and hunger and shed light on possible solutions.

This month we will be meeting in Evanston and discussing a book by Peter Singer that examines poverty, foreign aid, social justice and giving: The Life You Can Save. All are welcome, even if you haven’t read the book. If you are unable to read the book, check out a helpful review at this New York Times link. From that page, you can also read part of the first chapter. Along with the discussion, we will briefly share some of our recent lobby experiences in Washington, D.C., and hear an update on Bread’s current campaign to reform U.S. foreign aid.

Please join the conversation at 7:30 p.m. on Tues., July 28, at First United Methodist Church, 516 Church St., Evanston, IL (at Church and Hinman). Use the Church St. entrance.

If you have any questions, please contact the Chicago regional Bread office at 1-800-447-0239 or breadchicago@bread.org.