Bread for the World Applauds Senate Committee Vote on Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bread for the World is encouraged by today's advancement of the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act (S. 1271), led by Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Passed unanimously by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this legislation establishes guidelines to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance funds are administered in a transparent, accountable, and effective way.

"We are delighted that this landmark, bipartisan piece of aid transparency legislation passed unanimously through committee," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World and co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN). "Given its broad support, we hope that it moves forward so we can continue to improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance."

The legislation would require the U.S. president to establish uniform interagency guidelines across all U.S. foreign assistance programs and maintain a public website—known as the Foreign Assistance Dashboard (www.foreignassistance.gov)—with detailed information about how such assistance is used by program and country. Each relevant federal department or agency would be required to publish and update the dashboard quarterly with country assistance strategies, annual budget documents, budget obligations and expenditures, and evaluation reports for projects and programs.

The global community has increasingly acknowledged U.S. foreign assistance as complementary to diplomacy and military efforts. Foreign aid saves millions of lives through vital humanitarian assistance and development programs and helps stabilize economies and countries contributing to U.S. national security and economic well-being. As the importance of foreign assistance has increased, so has the number of agencies and organizations that run foreign aid programs. The proliferation of entities implementing foreign assistance has created the need for more coordination and common standards among them.

"We thank Senators Rubio and Cardin for their leadership on this bill and for the bipartisan support through committee," said Rev. Beckmann. "We urge the full Senate to take up this bill and pass it as soon as possible."

Bread for the World (www.bread.org) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.

SOURCE Bread for the World

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