speaking of watching our OUR Taxpayer Dollars going to corrupt assholes.. eh hem.. #AskJPM ps. whenever you see the phrase government funded think OUR Tax Dollars, cuz thats what it is.. ---------------------- A U.S. government-funded foreign aid organization is considering sending hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to countries whose flawed, corrupt or undemocratic governments should almost certainly be ineligible for the money according to the agencys own internal guidelines. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC, is an independent U.S. foreign aid agency dedicated to advancing American values by reducing poverty, advancing good governance, and weeding out corruption. But people familiar with the matter say that the MCC -- led by Colorado banker Daniel Yohannes (pictured above, left) -- is seriously contemplating giving money to Sierra Leone and Benin, which fail to meet its control of corruption requirements, and Liberia and Morocco, which meet less than half of the organizations 20 requirements for civil liberties, sound economic policies, and other measures. If approved, each country could receive hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. government funding over the next few years. At least one member of the MCCs eight-person board of directors has argued against giving money to the four countries, but its not clear if that opposition will be enough to sway the rest of the board, which meets next month to review all of its current and potential projects. This is the first time in the MCCs nine-year history that so many potential recipients of its money have failed to meet the grant requirements. And it comes at a sensitive time for Yohannes; on Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is considering his nomination to be Americas representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Its far from a simple issue of bureaucratic infighting. If everything breaks right, the MCC money could give a quartet of poor countries the money they need to build new airports and take other steps to juice their economies. If the MCC bets on the wrong countries, by contrast, huge amounts of American money could disappear into the pockets of corrupt government officials or business leaders. An MCC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the four countries had met all of the requirements in past years but fallen short this time around. The official said the scorecard was the first thing the board would look at, but that the countrys failures to pass the requirements wouldnt necessarily disqualify them from continuing the negotiations over future aid packages. The board has discretion, the official said. They scorecard is always the starting point, and its very important to the process, but nothing is automatic. thecable.foreignpolicy/posts/2013/11/08/exclusive_us_foreign_aid_give_cash_to_corrupt_regime
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 02:17:59 +0000
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