Aid Bill Out of Committee
The Kerry-Lugar-Menendez-Corker initial aid reform bill, S.1524, passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday by a vote of 14-3. Voting against were Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and James Inhofe (R-OK). Not present and without proxies were Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bob Casey (D-PA). Chairman Kerry opened with a statement about the need to “modernize and rebuild U.S. foreign assistance.” He said “momentum on foreign assistance reform is reaching a crescendo” as Congress is not the only branch of government interested in this issue, with the State Department’s work on the QDDR and the White House’s PSD also in play. He was pleased that Dr. Rajiv Shah has been nominated to head USAID, and thanked Senator Dodd for introducing S.Res.312 to empower and strengthen USAID. He said leadership on development at this moment in time was critical.
