Millennium Challenge Corporation
June 26, 2009 - RL32427
In a speech on March 14, 2002, President Bush outlined a proposal for a major new U.S. foreign aid initiative. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) provides assistance through a competitive selection process to developing nations that are pursuing political and economic reforms in three areas: ruling justly, investing in people, and fostering economic freedom. The MCC differs in several respects from past and current U.S. aid practices: the competitive process that rewards countries for past and current actions measured by 17 objective performance indicators; the pledge to segregate the funds from U.S. strategic foreign policy objectives that often strongly influence where U.S. aid is spent; and the requirement to solicit program proposals developed solely by qualifying countries with broad-based civil society involvement. As announced by the President Bush in March 2002, the initial plan had been to fund the MCC annually at $5 billion by FY2006, but this figure has never been reached. The Administration has sought a combined $15.0 billion for the MCC program, FY2004-FY2009, while Congress appropriated $8.3 billion, or little more than half of the total sought (55%). Under the FY2009 Omnibus appropriations (P.L. 111-8), Congress provided $875 million to the MCC. On May 7, 2009, the ...