Public Policy & Advocacy Briefs/Reports
After a week of rumor and innuendo, amendments and points of order, the FY2012 Senate State, Foreign Operations (SFOps) bill appears headed for inclusion in a nine-bill omnibus that leadership will attempt to push through by mid-December. Please see the attached Update for a blow-by-blow recounting of the ultimate demise of the second Senate mini-bus, which included Energy-Water and Financial Services along with SFOps.Yesterday, both chambers cleared the conference report for the $128.1 billion mini-bus package that included the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bills. The mini-bus also contained a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government funded through Dec. 16. Please see the Washington Update section of the full Update to find out how international food aid programs fared in the mini-bus.Please enjoy the rest of the Update, which includes the aforementioned news items, a hearing summary on environmental refugees and displaced persons, and articles of interest.
Last Friday, we reported that the next Senate minibus would likely include the State, Foreign Operations bill, along with Financial Services and Energy-Water and that it would move to the floor sometime this week. Well, as I am sure you all are painfully aware by now, this did not happen, and there is no definitive timeline for the introduction of the package of bills—or if it will happen in this form at all. Please see our Washington Update section for a thorough forecast of the endgame of the Senate FY2012 State, Foreign Operations bill and FY2012 appropriations more generally.Please enjoy the rest of our Update, which includes our regular menu of upcoming hearings, hearing summaries (including two Senate Foreign Relations Committee ones on China’s role in Africa and women involvement in the Arab Spring, respectively, and a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan beyond 2014), and articles of interest.
La Cumbre del G20 ha evolucionado desde su enfoque inicial sobre la crisis financiera global y la macroeconomía para incorporar temas de interés para las ONGs de desarrollo. Este documento presenta recomendaciones sobre seis materias. La Comisión Especial de InterAction sobre el G8/G20 urge a los países del G20 a:Seguridad Alimentaria, Agricultura y NutriciónAvanzar sobre la base de la Cumbre Mundial de 2009 y el compromiso de $22 millones hecho en L'Aquila en 2009.Reajustar los fondos de los donantes para mejorar la nutrición y alcanzar a los micro-productores.Integrar en la seguridad alimentaria la resiliencia al cambio climático y las alianzas de la sociedad civil.CorrupciónImplementar y hacer cumplir leyes que criminalicen el soborno extranjero y prohíban la contabilidad no registrada para el 1 de enero del 2012.Reforzar las políticas de “No al refugio seguro" y recuperación de activos.Establecer sistemas de gestión de finanzas públicas transparentes y con rendición de cuentas, incluyendo presupuesto y compras para el 1 de enero del 2012, y aumentar la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas de la ayuda.Integridad Financiera y Paraísos FiscalesUrgir a la Comisión Especial Sobre Acción Financiera para que asegure que las propiedades en usufructo de sociedades, fideicomisos, fundaciones y organizaciones filantrópicas sean todas registradas públicamente.Exigir que todas las empresas multinacionales dentro de su jurisdicción informen sobre sus ingresos y los impuestos pagados, país por país.Implementar la ofensiva en contra de los paraísos fiscales declarada por el G20 en abril del 2009.Promover una colaboración multilateral con los países en desarrollo en cuanto a intercambio de informaciones sobre impuestos.Inclusión financieraProporcionar herramientas y recursos a los países para que puedan establecer objetivos de inclusión financiera que incorporen una gama completa de servicios financieros e incluyan los grupos marginados.Asegurar que la Comisión Especial sobre Datos y Medición de Inclusión Financiera se enfoque sobre la calidad en la inclusión financiera. Asegurar que los marcos de política permitan que los grupos de servicios financieros informales tegan acceso a los servicios formales.Establecer una comisión especial de protección al cliente en la Alianza Global para la Inclusión Financiera.Rendición de CuentasEstablecer un Marco de Rendición permanente de Cuentas G20 que sea robusto, creíble, transparente e inclusivo.Exigir que los Grupos de Trabajo del G20 busquen aportes de las organizaciones internacionales, de los gobiernos y de la sociedad civil en forma regular y que desarrollen sistemas de consulta permanente y transparente.Dar a conocer los términos de referencia, los nombres y la afiliación de todos los miembros de los Grupos Expertos seis meses antes de cada cumbre.Asegurar que los informes evalúen los resultados a través de indicadores consistentes y específicos, con cronogramas y recomendaciones para acciones futuras, incluyendo los recursos prometidos y entregados.Financiamiento innovador: Cargo por transferencia financieraEl G20 debe implementar un cargo por transferencia y mecanismos de transporte marítimo y aéreo; como mínimo los EEUU deben apoyar los esfuerzos de otros países en la implementación de fuentes de financiamiento innovadores.
The October 2011 issue of Monday Developments Magazine
Did you know…… that together, InterAction members and U.S. corporations manage an estimated $19.4 billion in international development program funds? Together, we represent more than half of the total U.S. private investment in developing countries.*A recent survey of InterAction member CEOs, presidents and executive directors revealed:90% plan to expand their existing corporate relations in the U.S. and abroad.100% will explore taking their corporate partnerships to new levels, well beyond the donor-grantee phase.100% acknowledge and seek more corporate expertise and support.100% know we could do things better with more collective action.Most would encourage further engagement between their C-level staff and yours.
This week, the House of Representatives cleared a short-term continuing resolution (HR 2068) that will keep the government running through November 18. The Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012, passed 352-66, will fund the government at the $1.043 trillion top-line level agreed to in the August debt limit law. Although the bill gives Congress over a month to resolve party differences in FY2012 spending amounts and priorities, it has yet to pass any of the 12 annual appropriations bills through both chambers and will likely bundle all of them in a catch-all (or omnibus) spending measure. Please see InterAction’s Choose to Invest in Foreign Assistance webpage to download our new brochure, which provides essential information on core U.S. government humanitarian and development assistance programs, and includes InterAction’s FY2012 funding recommendations.Furthermore, there were several congressional hearings of interest to the InterAction community on this past Tuesday, including a House Financial Services Committee one on the World Bank and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) as well as a House Committee on Foreign Affairs one on U.S. policy toward Sudan. Special envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman, French scholar Gerard Prunier, and Enough co-founder John Prendergast were among those providing testimony to the committee.Please enjoy the rest of the Update, which includes our regular menu of upcoming hearings, hearing summaries, and articles of interest.
The budget table details account levels for international poverty-focused and humanitarian assistance as well as other pertinent accounts within the U.S. International Affairs Budget (Function 150) that InterAction tracks and analyzes for its members.This latest budget table includes account levels from the FY12 year-end omnibus conference report released on the evening of Thursday, December 15, 2011, which, when passed, will close out the FY12 appropriations process.The budget table includes comparisons between the FY12 year-end omnibus and the FY12 House State, Foreign Operations (SFOps) subcommitee draft bill in July 2011 as well as the FY12 year-end omnibus and the FY12 Senate SFOps committee bill from late September 2011.
The G20 Summit has evolved from its initial focus on the global financial crisis and macroeconomics to include issues of interest to development NGOs. This paper presents recommendations on six issues: 1.) Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition; 2.) Corruption; 3.) Financial Integrity and Tax Havens; 4.) Financial Inclusion; 5.)Accountability; and 6.) Innovative Financing: Financial Transfer Fee.
Steinberg's remarks are titled, "Delivering Effectivev Development Assistance in a Changing Global Landscape."
Current budget battles in Washington could result in an erosion of our country's "soft power" as US agencies who implement core foreign assistance programmes come under financial attack.
