Puget Sound Millennium Goals Project

A recommended starting point for understanding U.S. foreign aid is a guide published by Oxfam America, May 2008:

Foreign Aid 101: A quick and easy guide to understanding US foreign aid
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/briefing_pa...

Also, a Bread for the World briefing paper suggests needed reforms in US foreign aid policy and programs.

Reforming Foreign Aid
http://www.bread.org/BFW-Institute/briefing-papers/institute-briefing-pa...

And a coalition of groups and individuals recently announced a new effort to amend and moderinze the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which is the basic policy document that gives shape and substance to US foreign aid. For this see:

New Day, New Way: U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century, June 1, 2008, Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network
http://www.modernizingforeignassistance.org/

Foreign Aid in the 110th Congress

The Senate is currently working on foreign aid appropriations for the 2009 fiscal year that began July 1, 2008. The major piece of legislation for this is Senate bill 3288. It is based on a joint House-Senate resolution previously agreed to that set spending levels (see first attachment) and other separate policy and authorization legislation (which doesn’t need to pass to be included in the budget bill, e.g. H. R. 1420: Microbicide Development Act).

S. 3288 DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2009

Title: An original bill making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Patrick Leahy [D-VT], chair of Senate Committee on Appropriations
Status: Introduced 7/18/2008 and placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 889.

This bill sets appropriation levels and specifies priorities and expectations for spending (see language in quotes) for most foreign affairs programs (and accounts), including a number that deal with MDG-related programs. It does not, however, include all expenditures of interest. For example, the 2008 "farm bill” (H.R. 6124 - Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008) includes tax expenditures in the form of agricultural commodity subsidies. Also, additional spending is often included in supplemental appropriation bills for a fiscal year.

The appropriations in S. 3288 total $36.7 billlion, which is approximately $3.8 billion more than the amount needed to maintain purchasing power at the 2008 level, or a real increase of about 10%. The total for poverty reduction assistance has not been specified, but is perhaps half that amount.

The second attachment below provides details for several important aid program and accounts focused on poverty.