{ "id": "RL31687", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RL31687", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 101473, "date": "2004-03-19", "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:24:23.635844", "title": "The Millennium Challenge Account: Congressional Consideration of a New Foreign Aid Initiative", "summary": "In a speech on March 14, 2002, at the Inter-American Development Bank, President Bush\noutlined\na proposal for the United States to increase foreign economic assistance beginning in FY2004 so that\nby FY2006 American aid would be $5 billion higher than three years earlier. The new funds, which\nwould supplement the roughly $16.3 billion economic aid budget for FY2003, would be placed in\na separate fund -- Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) -- and be available on a competitive basis\nto a few countries that have demonstrated a commitment to sound development policies and where \nU.S. support is believed to have the best opportunities for achieving the intended results. These\n\u201cbest-performers\u201d would be selected based on their records in three areas -- ruling\njustly, investing\nin people, and pursuing sound economic policies. \n \n Development of a new foreign aid initiative by the Bush Administration was influenced by a\nnumber of factors, including the widely perceived poor track record of past aid programs, recent\nevidence that the existence of certain policies by aid recipients may be more important for success\nthan the amount of resources invested, the war on terrorism, and the March 2002 U.N.-sponsored\nInternational Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico.\n \n The MCA initiative is limited to countries with per capita incomes below $2,935, although in\nthe first two years -- FY2004 and FY2005 -- only countries below the $1,415 level would compete\nfor MCA resources. Participants will be selected based on a transparent evaluation of a\ncountry\u2019s\nperformance on 16 economic and political indicators, divided into three clusters corresponding to\nthe three policy areas of governance, economic policy, and investment in people. Eligible countries\nmust score above the median on half of the indicators in each area. One indicator -- control of\ncorruption -- is a pass/fail measure: a country must score above the median on this single measure\nor be excluded from further consideration.\n \n The Administration proposed to create a new entity -- the Millennium Challenge Corporation\n(MCC) -- to manage the initiative. The MCC would be supervised by a Board of Directors chaired\nby the Secretary of State. Several other key issues, including the number of participating countries\nand monitoring mechanisms, have yet to be determined.\n \n Congress plays a key role in the policy initiative by considering authorization and funding\nlegislation, and confirming the head of the proposed MCC. A number of issues have been addressed\nin the congressional debate, including country eligibility criteria, performance indicators used to\nselect participants, creation of the new MCC, and budget considerations. Congress approved\nlegislation (Division D of P.L. 108-199 ) authorizing the new program and appropriating $994\nmillion for the first year. The measure creates a Corporation, as proposed, but alters the composition\nand size of the Board of Directors. It further limits the extent to which lower-middle income\ncountries in FY2006 and beyond can participate in the MCA so that more resources will be available\nfor the poorest nations. The legislation creates a roughly 90-day period after the Corporation is\nestablished for consultation and public comment before selecting MCA participants for FY2004. \nIt is expected that the Board will name the initial MCA eligible countries in May 2004.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL31687", "sha1": "740579a89c0c076911ec989359cb343978bfca34", "filename": "files/20040319_RL31687_740579a89c0c076911ec989359cb343978bfca34.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31687", "sha1": "359e824fd9aca2af6f870edd2ab1f0f13fdf9cee", "filename": "files/20040319_RL31687_359e824fd9aca2af6f870edd2ab1f0f13fdf9cee.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc807259/", "id": "RL31687_2003Aug26", "date": "2003-08-26", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "The Millennium Challenge Account: Congressional Consideration of a New Foreign Aid Initiative", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20030826_RL31687_3eb1d8fd4a31a11a8b3aaa2ad4b83a5ab5ef5c1a.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20030826_RL31687_3eb1d8fd4a31a11a8b3aaa2ad4b83a5ab5ef5c1a.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806373/", "id": "RL31687_2003Jan03", "date": "2003-01-03", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "The Millennium Challenge Account: Congressional Consideration of a New Foreign Aid Initiative", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20030103_RL31687_1ca8c3f83eb3c0340ef52d96b779174e2f327dcb.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20030103_RL31687_1ca8c3f83eb3c0340ef52d96b779174e2f327dcb.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Foreign Affairs" ] }