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The Weekly GAB – Friday, March 11, 2016
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | www.usglc.org

Top Quote

MEDIUM
#FutureofAid<https://medium.com/usaid-2030/futureofaid-by-usaid-administrator-gayle-smith-45cbe091413f#.qw9ekywuv>
Gayle Smith, Administrator of USAID
We have shown that development is an endeavor backed by bipartisan commitment; we have shown that USAID can deliver. I have told members of Congress with whom I have met that I will be transparent and accountable — a pledge made easier by the hard work and rigor that the men and women of USAID bring to work every day. I have also said that I will not be shy about coming to Congress to ask for what we need… All of us — across party lines and from one administration to the next — must pledge to keep building a stronger USAID, one that delivers accountability and impact and earns flexibility in exchange. An Agency with the agility and support it needs. The Agency we need and the world deserves.

Campaign 2016

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Fill in the Foreign Policy Blanks<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/opinion/fill-in-the-foreign-policy-blanks.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region> | Editorial Board
The next president will have to set the direction of the fight against terrorism, define America’s role in the Syrian war, which has created a refugee crisis that is destabilizing Europe, and address the tensions between China and its neighbors that could turn into military conflict. Yet few of the presidential candidates have offered much sense of how they would actually take on these critical problems, and none, other than Hillary Clinton, inspires any confidence in this arena. The truth is, foreign policy will very likely dominate the next administration, as it has dominated much of the Obama presidency… The next president will have to manage an unstable world where challenges are becoming more complex, from the aggressive policies of China and Russia, to the India-Pakistan nuclear arms race and America’s role in Asia. Voters know more about Mrs. Clinton’s views than those of the other candidates. They deserve a fuller discussion on these issues from all of them.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Donald the Dangerous<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/donald-the-dangerous.html?_r=1> | Nicholas Kristof
Trump has also called for more U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq, and raised the prospect of bombing North Korean nuclear sites. A poorly informed, impatient and pugnacious leader can cause devastation, and that’s true of either Kim Jong-un or Donald Trump. The third risk is to America’s reputation and soft power. Both Bush and President Obama worked hard to reassure the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims that the U.S. is not at war with Islam. Trump has pretty much declared war on all Muslims. The damage to America’s image is already done, even if Trump is never elected. Simply as a blowhard who gains headlines around the world, he reinforces caricatures of the United States and tarnishes our global reputation. He turns America into an object of derision.

THE WASHINGTON POST
Why Can't Donald Trump Close the Deal With Any Foreign Policy Advisers?<https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/03/09/why-cant-donald-trump-close-the-deal-with-any-foreign-policy-advisers/>
Daniel Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
By my count, Trump has broken at least three explicit promises to name his team by a certain date. Now far be it for me to distrust a man who blatantly lies about his own brand-name products, but I’m beginning to suspect that maybe, just maybe, Trump is not going to be naming his foreign policy team anytime soon. It’s almost like he can’t close the deal with anyone who knows anything about international relations, like they know his foreign policy proposals are unworkable or something. Sad! … So in case you’re wondering whether or how Trump will honor any foreign policy pledge he has made during this presidential campaign, remember that he has not kept the one concrete, tangible promise he has made during this election cycle.

ROLL CALL
Export-Import Bank Debate Puts Sanders at Odds With Senate Democrats<http://atr.rollcall.com/sanders-unique-among-senate-democrats-opposing-export-import-bank/> | Niels Lesniewski
“The Export-Import Bank provides corporate welfare to some of the largest multi-national corporations that are moving jobs to China and stashing their profits in tax havens like the Cayman Islands,” policy director Warren Gunnels said in a statement issued ahead of a Democratic debate in Flint, Mich. Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, was the lone member of the caucus to vote against reauthorizing the export financing agency when it came up for votes last year, including on the tests vote in late July that proved a bipartisan group of more than 60 senators supported the underlying reauthorization.

Who’s in the News

THE ATLANTIC
The Obama Doctrine<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-obama-doctrine/471525/> | Jeffrey Goldberg
Obama has come to a number of dovetailing conclusions about the world, and about America’s role in it. The first is that the Middle East is no longer terribly important to American interests. The second is that even if the Middle East were surpassingly important, there would still be little an American president could do to make it a better place. The third is that the innate American desire to fix the sorts of problems that manifest themselves most drastically in the Middle East inevitably leads to warfare, to the deaths of U.S. soldiers, and to the eventual hemorrhaging of U.S. credibility and power. The fourth is that the world cannot afford to see the diminishment of U.S. power. Just as the leaders of several American allies have found Obama’s leadership inadequate to the tasks before him, he himself has found world leadership wanting: global partners who often lack the vision and the will to spend political capital in pursuit of broad, progressive goals, and adversaries who are not, in his mind, as rational as he is. Obama believes that history has sides, and that America’s adversaries—and some of its putative allies—have situated themselves on the wrong one, a place where tribalism, fundamentalism, sectarianism, and militarism still flourish. What they don’t understand is that history is bending in his direction.

THE HUFFINGTON POST
The Return of Investment of Foreign Assistance<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hari-sastry/the-return-on-investment_b_9410922.html>
Hari Sastry, Director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources at the State Department
America is at the forefront, a leader in addressing the various crises around the world that are producing more disasters, more refugees, and more global health pandemics than we have ever seen before. We step up because it's the right thing to do, because our core American values dictate equality and freedom for all. We step up because when we lead, we promote U.S. national security goals and development objectives abroad. We step up because when our global community is thriving--healthy, at peace, and economically sound--we thrive.

MEDIUM
An Open Letter to Innovators<https://medium.com/usaid-2030/an-open-letter-to-innovators-da9ec5ea83c8#.v3zlugs7i>
Ann Mei Chang, Chief Innovation Officer at USAID and executive director at USAID’s Global Development Lab
The stakes are high. We’ve made incredible progress, but nearly 1 billion people around the world continue to survive on less than $1.90 a day. As a comparison, that’s as if every day, every person in India had to live on the cost of a medium-sized soft drink from McDonald’s. This is where you come in. We live in a time of unprecedented innovation. New approaches, tools and technologies give us more opportunities than ever before to help lift the world’s most vulnerable people out of poverty. By tapping into your talent and creativity, we know we can produce the breakthrough development solutions that will help to end global poverty.

THE HUFFINGTON POST
Invest Now in Ethiopia to Sustain Progress, Save Lives<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-beckmann/invest-now-in-ethiopia-to_b_9401940.html>
David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World
We, at Bread for the World, have supported USAID's proactive approach in the past, and we continue to do so now in light of Ethiopia's drought. Investments made now will save lives and money later. The Ethiopian government estimates that $1.4 billion is needed. However, less than half of that has been raised. Our government, our churches, our charities in the United States must do more to meet this need. We know the damage malnutrition and hunger can do, especially among pregnant women and children below age 2. The physical and cognitive damage caused by malnutrition in the critical 1,000 days of an infant is irreversible. The consequences, including stunting, are lifelong.

THE HILL
No Parachute Necessary<http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/272236-no-parachute-necessary>
Shannon Scribner, Manager of Humanitarian Policy at Oxfam America
Humanitarian emergencies of all sizes cause devastation and loss of life that is often preventable. The time has come to look deeper for ways that disasters can be prevented and prepared for before they strike. This means that programs in developing countries focused on poverty reduction should also manage the risks that poor people face, and work to address the root causes that can lead to crises and emergencies. In order to be effective, women must be part of any planning process for reducing risks and gender assessments must be conducted on how disasters impact men and women differently.

Development & Diplomacy

THE CHATTANOOGAN
Senators Corker and Coons Highlight Progress in Reform of U.S. Global Food Aid<http://www.chattanoogan.com/2016/3/10/319776/Senators-Corker-And-Coons-Highlight.aspx>
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday approved the Global Food Security Act, which contains a first-time authorization for USAID’s Emergency Food Security Program. USAID has relied increasingly upon EFSP to avoid constraints that would prevent delivery of emergency food aid through the Food for Peace program. “This authorization marks important progress in eliminating inefficiencies that prevent us from feeding more people in need around the world more quickly,” said Senator Corker. “Absent flexibilities that exist for emergency assistance, there would be no way to respond in places like Syria where U.S. commodities simply cannot reach. The Emergency Food Security Program represents a model for overall food aid reform, and I am hopeful that with today’s action we will build momentum behind that effort.”

NPR
What It'd Take To Save 10 Million Lives: Zinc, Bed Nets, $70 Billion<http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/07/469194150/what-we-need-to-save-10-million-lives-zinc-bed-nets-70-billion> | Maanvi Singh
Dr. Gavin Yamey, a professor of global health at Duke University: We estimate that achieving convergence will cost about $70 billion a year in additional spending. Now, at first blush that sounds like a lot of money. But let's keep in mind, the GDP of low-income countries is growing. Of course there will always be a need for donor government and nonprofit money to help out the poorest countries. Still, many low and middle income countries will be increasingly able to invest in their own health systems. And we know that putting money into health care gives one of the greatest returns to investment. We found that every dollar invested in health, globally, between now and 2035, would return somewhere between 9 and 20 dollars in terms of improved economic productivity and health care costs saved by averting more severe health issues. So there's not just a humanitarian argument to be made here but also an economic case.

Politics & Foreign Policy

POLITICO
The Pentagon's Secret Foreign Aid Budget<http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/03/the-pentagons-foreign-aid-budget-needs-oversight-000060>
Lora Lumpe, senior policy analyst, and Jeremy Ravinsky, policy associate, at the Open Society Foundations
This year, the Pentagon’s comptroller released more foreign aid budget materials than ever before, providing details on five aid programs—including the $1 billion Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund. That’s an improvement over past practices. But there are 66 other DOD-administered aid programs for which no country-level budget details were furnished. Admittedly, many of these programs are small. But together they amount to billions of dollars in aid. Nowhere are all of these programs lined up side by side for a given country so that oversight staff—or interested taxpayers—can see how these investments fit together and what they are intended to achieve.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Free Trade Loses Political Favor<http://www.wsj.com/articles/free-trade-loses-political-favor-1457571366> | Bob Davis
After decades in which successive Republican and Democratic presidents have pushed to open U.S. and global markets, resentment toward free trade now appears to have the upper hand in both parties, making passage this year of a sweeping Pacific trade deal far less likely and clouding the longer-term outlook for international economic exchange. Many Democrats have long blamed free-trade deals for big job losses and depressed wages, especially in the industrialized Midwest, which has been battered over the years by competition from lower-cost manufacturing centers in countries like Japan, Mexico and China. But one big surprise Tuesday was how loudly trade fears reverberated among Republican voters in the primary contests in Michigan and Mississippi—evidence, many observers say, of a widening undercurrent of skepticism on the right about who reaps the benefits from loosened trade restrictions. (See Attached For Full Story)

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