Excerpts: "The Bush administration must develop an overall strategy for U.S. foreign aid programs that reconciles the conflicts between humanitarian and national security objectives, according to a new report prepared by the Republican staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under the direction of ranking minority member Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.)......As the foreign aid budget has grown from $14.9 billion in 2001 to a record request of $24.5 billion this year, the Pentagon's share of bilateral aid has grown from 7 percent of that total to about 22 percent......Congress repeatedly has reduced President Bush's foreign aid requests, and that 'insufficient funding for foreign assistance in the civilian agency budgets reinforces a migration of foreign aid authorities and functions to the Department of Defense.'....The report also criticizes the State Department, arguing that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's establishment last year of a director of foreign assistance to centralize decision-making has resulted in a 'lack of transparency' for aid staff in the field, and 'weeks of extra paperwork, differing priorities between post and headquarters as well as inconsistent demands.'"
Comment: Having been a Peace Corps Volunteer and a U.S. Government functionary in the foreign assistance programs for 25 years, I am personally sorry to read about the problems in the foreign affairs programs.
As a citizen, at this time in which our foreign assistance is so important to our foreign policy, I am glad to see the budget increase, but I am sorry to see Congress keeping funding down. I don't think the Department of Defense should be a major channel for foreign development assistance. Let us hope that the next administration reverses many of the Bush administration's efforts in foreign assistance. JAD
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