TheAlliance for International Education and Cultural Exchange notes
[t]he Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved last week a measure that would make changes to foreign assistance programs, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), CQ.com and Foreign Policy.com both report. The approved bill would authorize $255 million over six years to establish a council within the executive branch to research and evaluate foreign assistance programs. The bill would establish, within USAID, an assistant administrator for policy and strategic planning and a bureau that would, according to CQ.com, “develop policy and long-term strategy, evaluate program effectiveness, and establish resource and workforce allocation criteria.” It would also direct the administrator of USAID to put together a strategy to promote development with the goal of reducing global poverty and establish career guidelines for Foreign Service and civil service officers that would include rotation among agencies, governments, or international organizations.
Foreign Policy.com characterizes the bill as “a strong but relatively modest attempt to increase the power and stature of USAID,” while CQ.com notes that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has acknowledged the legislation is limited in scope but still believes it to be an “important first step” to modernizing and rebuilding foreign assistance.
The Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S.1524) moves at the same time as the nomination of Dr. Raj Shah as administrator of USAID is being considered. The Senate bill, the nomination of new leadership and the ongoing QDDRare all happening at the same time and when USAID could use clarification as to its relationships with DoD and State and its mission – with budget and staffing aligned accordingly. But that is a lot of moving parts all at once and FP.com is reporting that State asked the Senate to wait on moving the bill:
…the State Department leadership has been asking Kerry to slow-walk the bill, not wanting the legislation to preempt State’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), led by Deputy Secretary Jack Lew and Policy Planning chief Anne Marie Slaughter, and to a lesser degree the National Security Council’s President Study Directive (PSD) on foreign assistance, led by Gayle Smith.