SOTU: Bush’s Signature Foreign Assistance Program Is Nearly Bankrupt
SOTU: Bush’s Signature Foreign Assistance Program Is Nearly Bankrupt
Bush said: “We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger, poverty, and disease - and that is precisely what America is doing. … I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat.”
FACT — MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE PROGRAM WILL SOON BE BANKRUPT: “President Bush’s signature foreign-assistance program is likely to run out of money this year, leaving in the lurch several poor countries that have labored to meet its strict eligibility standards, according to aid officials. Mr. Bush introduced the Millennium Challenge program in 2002 as a new approach to fix the perceived failures of overseas-development assistance.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/22/07]
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32 Responses to “SOTU: Bush’s Signature Foreign Assistance Program Is Nearly Bankrupt”
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Yes, and the United States government is going to be bankrupt soon!
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:57 pmAs opposed to this country, where corruption is on the rise and democracy is in retreat.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:57 pmConstitutionally, it is up to the Congress to appropriate money to the Millenium Fund. The proverbial ball is in Speaker Pelosi's court.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:57 pmThe time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:58 pm---George Washington
Constitionally,
Bush cannot take the right of Habeus Corpus away.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 pmthis is true. unfortunately, the general public doesn't know that less than 1 % of us appropriated funds goes overseas. i'm with bush - it should certainly be funded.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:00 pmhuh... just "god bless"... fini...
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:01 pmExley,
You make me sick.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:03 pm"interesting to hear him glide over" points he's made in the past...
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:05 pm-tom brokaw, msnbc...
Ugh. I feel so used.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:06 pmWhat about the "shadow" army of mercenaries Bush proposed? Why is noone commenting about this? At our house, we are shocked that this hasn't drawn complete outrage.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:09 pm& CSPAN goes to "CAPTAINS QUARTERS" for commentary!!!!
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:10 pmMcJowels fell asleep.....good day sir, I Said GoodDay!!!
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:10 pmBush loves Blackwater mercenaries, so that is what he was talking about.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:12 pmVance...You get NOTHING! You lose!
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 pm#15 Got a rise out of you though didnt i....simp.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:26 pmi just read the scroll on msnbc...
tucker carlson, blogging, said that mccain was slumping in his seat...
not alert...
anyone have more details?
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:28 pmVance, I am disappointed you didn't recognize the movie nor the dialogue.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 pmand bully on webb! he actually said "ROBBER BARONS" !!!
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 pm#16 - Vance
Heh.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 pmI hope TP does a thread on the Webb response.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:32 pm#19 my appologies,I get an itchy trigger finger after the chimp speaks.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:34 pm#19 my appologies,I get an itchy trigger finger after the chimp speaks.
Comment by Vance
Exactly why I did not watch him sir.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:45 pm#23 That's okay, Vance.....That is one of my favorite lines of dialogue of all time:
"It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks. You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized! So you get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!"
This dismissal by Willy Wonka's of Grandpa Joe is an oft-repeated catch-phrase used in The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Classic.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:47 pmMe to Vance, if fact it is taking all my will not to go out and do some target practice in the wood's....If my neighbors only knew what was going on in the world or even in the U.S. they would join me, sadly all of them are like McCain, wetting their depend's and nodding off watching reruns and old movies.....Blessings all.
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:48 pm#3 Exley - You got it right! The Congress now controls the purse strings and can chop him off at the knees if they choose. Let's see if they put their money where their mouth is! Hope so!
P.S. The health care fix sounds too good to be true....oversimplified from a simpleton, as anything he spews forth. However, it doesn absolutely nothing for the impoverished people who need it the most...they're left in the lurch! Nice idea/ won't work for those who need it most.
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:03 pmI get an itchy trigger finger after the chimp speaks.
--- Vance
the guys I share the house with turned the tv to sci fi channel, so I wouldn't yell at the tv. He ticks me off every time he speaks.
=D
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:06 pmThe fact that Bush's signature foreign assistance policy is almost bankrupt is a symptom of the gross incompetence of this administration. An incompetence that wasn't appearent to me until the Katrina disastar, but that is a hallmark of all their failures.
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:08 pmAnyway, the new most annoying thing about Bush to me is his stupid little wave. He does it often on helicopter egress. He raises an arm and gives a little finger wag. Kind of like a nervous dogs tail on viewing desired food. It seems like a friendly, folksy heil.
The proverbial ball is in Speaker Pelosi’s court.
Comment by Exley — January 23, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
That is true now. Funds for the program didn't all the sudden shrink at the beginning of the year. Also, this is Pres Bush's signature program. It's his brain child (I use the word "brain rather liberally here). It is up to him to secure enough funds for it.
Not to mention that the Republican-run "do-nothing Congress" left many unapproved/unfinished spending bills.
No matter how you slice it Exley, Pres Bush and his party dropped the ball on his own signature plan. What can we expect for plans with a lower priority?
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:22 pmIt's been "Down the Rabbit Hole" with Bush since his first Campaign sign in 2000 "No Behind Left, Child", and here we sit with a Sociopath who's still attempting to extort more Blood for Oil from the American People. Is this the kind of "Development" we'ld be funding?
January 24th, 2007 at 4:23 amAddressing "the challenges of hunger, poverty, and disease...in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat" is all well and good, but what about doing that for people right here at home? Bush is, after all, President of the United States and not these other nations. The United States is inarguably one of the most prosperous nations in the world, and yet it is astonishing how many Americans -- perhaps as many as 35 million, according to the Washington Post -- go hungry. (Oh, wait...I forgot that the U.S. government doesn't use the word "hungry" anymore when referring to its own people. How clumsy of me...I should have said "have low food security"!). Is it merely an accident or a coincidence that the number of Americans receiving food stamps reportedly went up 50% between 2000 and 2005? There's by no means anything wrong with trying to improve the welfare of people in other countries -- but isn't it only fair that we put at least as much effort, if not more, into improving the lives of our own people as we do theirs?
Sounds to me that the Millenium Challenge Account is a little bit like all those old adages which suggested that whatever someone does for a living, he or she always does it for someone else's family and never their own -- the baker's children never get cake, etc..
January 24th, 2007 at 9:29 amI'm no Bush apologist but isn't that what he's wanting to fix here - the line says the program is almost broke and Bush is asking for more funding - what's wrong with that? Am I missing something here???
January 24th, 2007 at 6:52 pm