Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) CEO Paul Applegarth Comments on Senate Subcommittee Action

Washington, D.C. —Today the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs completed its markup of the Fiscal Year 2006 (FY 06) Appropriations bill.

“While today's bill provides $1.8 billion for MCC, an increase of 20% over last year's appropriated level, it still falls short of the President's request of $3 billion for FY06. The need to provide additional, and effective, aid to the poorest people in the world is great. We are working to benefit over 400 million people in 30 eligible and threshold countries, many of whom live on less than $2 a day.” said MCC CEO Paul Applegarth.

“MCC is embarking on a new approach to development assistance that is focused on reducing poverty by partnering with countries that are committed to improving the lives of their citizens and breaking the cycle of dependency on aid. This assistance is not a quick fix. Rather, it is an investment in helping countries to overcome their greatest development challenges.

“Even though we just started last year, we are already showing real results. We received our first proposals from countries in August, and in the 10 months since we have approved over $600 million in Compacts and Compact development funding in at least seven different countries. Moreover, independent observers are already reporting that they are seeing an “MCC effect” on good governance as countries implement significant policy reforms to improve their chances of qualifying for the Millennium Challenge Account. We will continue to work with Congress to reach the President's requested funding level for MCC. I especially thank Chairman Mitch McConnell and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy for their support for our mission.” said MCC CEO Paul Applegarth.

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Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.