The Daily GAB
Last Friday, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) CEO Daniel Yohannes responded to concerns raised by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) stemming from a Reuters report that China’s Sinohydro Corporation signed a contract with Mali to build a new airport for the capital, a $71.6 million project financed by the MCC. Senator Webb requested that the MCC cancel [...]
Last week Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Chief Executive Officer Daniel Yohannes issued a statement outlining his strategic vision for MCC, explaining his plans to internally realign MCC to support the agency’s priorities. “A primary reason for MCC’s success is our focus on one, well-defined mission: reducing poverty through economic growth,” Dr. Yohannes said. The plan [...]
Yesterday the House passed (by a 308-114 vote) the $58.8 billion FY 2010 war and Haiti supplemental as originally passed by the Senate in late May. The supplemental now heads to the President’s desk for signature. The critically needed funding was stalled for many weeks due to partisan bickering over nearly $23 billion in domestic [...]
Like his predecessor, President Obama has made combating HIV/AIDS a priority, requesting $5.9 billion in the FY 2011 International Affairs budget, including $1 billion for the Global Fund, a slight increase over current levels. Friday marked the end of the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where more than 20,000 delegates representing scientists, global health leaders [...]
There’s good news to report from the Hill. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee adopted the FY11 302(b) allocations, and voted to restore $1.3 billion of the $4 billion cut they recently made to the State-Foreign Operations bill. This brings the total allocation for the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill to about $54 billion in the House, [...]
House Democrats, who sought to add $22 billion in domestic spending to the pending FY 2010 war, disaster and Haiti supplemental, are indicating that they might remove that funding amid objections from Republicans and Senate Democrats. The domestic spending, which included funds for Pell grants and to avert teacher layoffs, has been a sticking point [...]
Gearing up for the Afghanistan Donors Conference tomorrow, the Obama administration announced a flurry of development projects in Pakistan today. Secretary Clinton unveiled two hydroelectric dams, one in the mountains of northern Pakistan and the other in South Waziristan; 13 irrigation, water storage and municipal water projects across the country; renovation or construction of three [...]
Yesterday the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY11 appropriations allocations that include a $2.6 billion cut to the President’s funding request for the International Affairs Budget. The USGLC released a statement, saying, “While we appreciate Chairman Inouye’s efforts to restore some of the cut that came out of the Budget Committee earlier this year, we [...]
With concerns mounting in Congress about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Secretary Clinton and Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke will attend a donors conference in Kabul July 20 as part of the largest gathering of foreign leaders in Afghanistan since the 1970s. Co-chaired by the Government of Afghanistan and the United Nations, the conference will reinforce U.S. [...]
Tomorrow the Senate Appropriations Committee will adopt the all-important FY 2011 302(b) allocations. Indications are that Chairman Inouye may cut $2-2.5 billion from the International Affairs Budget, as opposed to the $4 billion cut levied by the House Appropriations Committee before the July 4th recess. Markups are getting underway this week in the Appropriations subcommittees, [...]
