November 5, 2015 (WASHINGTON) – This statement is delivered on behalf of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) by Co-Chairs George Ingram, Carolyn Miles, and Connie Veillette
Today the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 3766), recently introduced by Representatives Ted Poe (R-TX) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA). MFAN thanks Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) for swiftly taking up this legislation for consideration, and the bill sponsors for their continued leadership on efforts to make foreign assistance more transparent and accountable.
MFAN strongly supports this bipartisan legislation, which would codify important reforms to ensure that U.S. agencies involved in foreign assistance are focused on rigorous and consistent monitoring and evaluation of programs and on making comprehensive, timely, and comparable aid data publicly available. By reinforcing its existing commitments to transparency and evaluation through legislation, the U.S. government can better track, measure, and allocate scarce aid resources.
We hope to see swift passage of this important legislation by the full House of Representatives. We also urge the Senate to take similar action on the companion bill (S. 2184), introduced by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD).