Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds the House of Representatives’ passage of the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 3766) last night, and urges the Senate to quickly pass its version of this bipartisan legislation.
“Making all U.S. foreign assistance more transparent and accountable will help certify that our tax money is used efficiently,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “This legislation is especially important now that the global community has embraced new global goals that would virtually end hunger and poverty by 2030. It’s clear that more openness and transparency are key to helping the U.S. achieve better results and lead the charge of ending global hunger and poverty.”
The House and Senate bills establish important guidelines to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance dollars are administered in a transparent, accountable, and effective way. Similar versions of this bill were unanimously passed by the House in the 112th Congress and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 113th Congress.
The legislation would require the president to establish uniform 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 specific programs and countries. Each relevant federal department or agency would be required to publish and update the dashboard quarterly with assistance strategies, annual budget documents, budget obligations and expenditures, and evaluation reports for projects and programs.
“We thank the bipartisan congressional leadership for introducing these important bills,” Beckmann said. “We urge the Senate to pass their version of the legislation as soon as possible.”
