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16 September 2004

Senate Appropriators Approve $175 Million for Aid to Darfur

Panel also votes to boost funding for AIDS, decrease it for MCA

By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $175 million for emergency aid to the Darfur region of Sudan.

The Darfur provision is part of a $19.5 billion foreign operations spending bill for the fiscal year beginning October 1 (FY05). The bill would boost funds to combat AIDS and other infectious diseases in poor countries but decrease by more than half the amount the Bush administration requested for its new foreign aid fund, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).

The measure that would increase foreign operations spending by $2 billion over the 2004 level was approved in committee 29-0. The $19.5 billion amount is $2 billion less than the administration's request and slightly more than the amount approved by the House of Representatives in July.

The approved amount for refugee, famine and disaster relief in the Darfur region augments the $95 million for Darfur emergency relief Congress appropriated earlier this year in the 2005 defense spending bill. Darfur is experiencing civil conflict that Secretary of State Colin Powell has described as "genocide" by the Sudanese government against its citizens.

The approved amount to combat AIDS -- $2.4 billion -- is $220 million more than President Bush's request and the amount approved by the House.

Under the Senate bill, the MCA would receive $1.1 billion; the administration had requested $2.5 billion. The House foreign operations bill also approved less than half the administration request for MCA.

MCA, a supplemental aid program announced by President Bush in 2002, rewards select developing countries for progress in opening their economies and adopting human rights and democratization policies. The fund's administrative agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), has already named 16 qualifying countries and is expected to name more later in 2004, according to news reports.

State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher September 15 said the Millennium Challenge initiative is already having an impact. In countries that have been selected for eligibility, he said, "governments are conducting unprecedented consultations with their societies to identify development priorities. In countries that have not yet been selected but are striving to qualify for funding in future years, governments are implementing bold reform programs."

The spending bill will next be taken up by the full Senate or be rolled into an omnibus spending bill with other still unfinished appropriations measures for 2005. Differences between Senate and House versions of a spending bill then need to be reconciled before a final bill is sent to the president for signature.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)