Oxfam welcomes today the bipartisan passage of Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 3766) by the House of Representatives’, which was passed unanimously by the Senate last week.
"With the bipartisan passage of this legislation, Congress is marking a huge step towards making U.S. foreign aid more effective, and more responsive to partners’ priorities,” said David Saldivar, Oxfam America’s policy and advocacy manager for aid effectiveness. “We thank the bill sponsors Reps. Ted Poe (R-TX), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and for their efforts in working together to ensure strong U.S. leadership in supporting those on the front lines of poverty with effective foreign aid.”
The bill will require that agencies regularly evaluate their foreign assistance programs and update the ForeignAssistance.gov website, ensuring that development assistance be tracked and monitored. Too often under current law, American taxpayers and partner country citizens are not able to see where their aid dollars are being used and spent.
“Oxfam believes transparency is the essential first step to country ownership of development and can help facilitate responsive and accountable governance,” continued Saldivar. “This bill is about America supporting it's values abroad, by helping citizens 'follow the money' to ensure American development projects deliver the investments those living in poverty need and want.”
