Online registration for this event is closed. Walk-in registrations may be accepted.
If you cannot attend, we welcome you to watch the event live on this page.As the United States labors under the longest economic crisis of recent times, foreign aid has once again come under fire. The American people and their representatives in Congress have questioned whether generous aid programs are paying off, citing cases like Pakistan, a recipient of billions in US taxpayer funds and the home of the late Osama bin Laden, as a prime example. But there are also humanitarian demands on the US checkbook, such as the current drought in the Horn of Africa. Under tight budget constraints, it is vital that foreign aid achieves its goals. But is the half-century-old Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 doing the job?
Representative Howard Berman (D-CA) is proposing draft legislation which works to streamline, direct, and accurately measure the success of US foreign assistance. Join AEI as we welcome the ranking member of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs to roll out his vision for new legislation on the fiftieth anniversary of the Foreign Assistance Act.
A draft of the legislation will be released for public comment following the event.
Speaker: REPRESENTATIVE HOWARD BERMAN (D-CA), Ranking Member, US House Committee on Foreign AffairsModerator: NOAM UNGER, Brookings Institution11:30 AM
Adjournment
Contact Information
For more information, please contact Julissa Milligan at [email protected], 202.862.5905.
Congressman Howard L. Berman has served the state of California for over three decades. He began a distinguished career by serving as the youngest Assembly Majority leader for the California state legislature, and has represented California in the House of Representatives since 1982. After serving as Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2010, he is currently the Ranking Member of that Committee and a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman Berman is highly respected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle for his ability to build bipartisan coalitions, secure compromise, and usher through Congress significant pieces of legislation.
Paul Wolfowitz spent more than three decades in public service and higher education. Most recently, he served as president of the World Bank and deputy secretary of defense. As ambassador to Indonesia, Mr. Wolfowitz became known for his advocacy of reform and political openness and for his interest in development issues, which dates back to his doctoral dissertation on water desalination in the Middle East. At AEI, Mr. Wolfowitz works on development issues.
Noam Unger is a fellow with the Development Assistance and Governance Initiative and policy director for the Foreign Assistance Reform Project at the Brookings Institution. He is a founding member and principal of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, and has served as a member of the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development, jointly convened by the German Marshall Fund and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before coming to Brookings, he spent four years in public service at the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, where he worked on humanitarian affairs, reconstruction, conflict transformation and interagency coordination.
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