WASHINGTON – At a time of deep polarization in Washington, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) on Capitol Hill today released a powerful display of bipartisan unity: a set of comprehensive, consensus-based recommendations to guide the future of U.S. foreign assistance.
Developed by an ideologically diverse group of former Republican and Democratic officials, policy experts, and leading development practitioners, (see list below), the recommendations offer a strategic path forward for the Administration and Congress at a critical time. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been shuttered, thousands of programs have been cancelled, the reorganization of the State Department is moving forward, and Congress this week is taking action on both FY25 rescissions and FY26 appropriations.
Released today at a standing room only event in the Capitol Visitor’s Center, the report -- “Consensus Principles & Recommendations for the Future of U.S. International Assistance” -- lays out crucial policy, budgetary, and organizational principles necessary to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance remains a powerful tool to advance national interests, counter global threats, and promote prosperity.
“This alignment of leaders from a wide range of policy and political backgrounds on U.S. international assistance speaks volumes about the urgency and importance of getting this right,” said Tod Preston, Executive Director of MFAN. “These recommendations reflect shared and important priorities across the political spectrum about how to make development and humanitarian assistance work even better for the American people and those it helps around the world.”
The recommendations focus on five core areas:
Jim Richardson, former Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the State Department during the first Trump Administration and a signatory of the recommendations, added: "These recommendations will go a long way in advancing the Trump Administration’s goal – really a bipartisan goal - of making the country safer, stronger, and more prosperous. To be successful, the State Department must align strategy, budget, and performance and ensure that implementation mechanisms are built to achieve maximum results in an efficient and accountable way.”
Lester Munson, another signatory of the recommendations and the former Republican staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and longtime MFAN leader, noted the political significance of this effort: "These recommendations reflect a serious, bipartisan consensus on how to make our aid smarter and more accountable. They emphasize alignment with U.S. interests, and operational capacity—principles that unite stakeholders across the aisle and across sectors. I hope they will help guide Congress and the Administration as they move ahead to the next era of foreign assistance.”
Read the full recommendations here. The signatories are:
· Lisa Bos
Vice President for Policy and Advocacy, InterAction
· Elizabeth Hoffman
Executive Director for North America, ONE Campaign
· George Ingram
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
· James Kunder
Former Deputy Administrator, USAID (George W. Bush Administration)
· Nancy Lee
Senior Policy Fellow and Director for Sustainable Development Finance, Center for Global Development
· James Mazzarella
Former Senior Director for International Economics, National Security Council (Trump Administration)
· Robert Mosbacher Jr.
Former President, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (George W. Bush Administration)
· Lester Munson
MFAN Co-Chair and Principal, BGR Group, and former Staff Director, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
· Larry Nowels
MFAN Co-Chair
· Tod Preston
Executive Director, MFAN
· Susan Reichle
Former Counselor, USAID
· James Richardson
Former Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance, Department of State (Trump Administration)
· Daniel F. Runde
Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies (George W. Bush Administration)
· Conor M. Savoy
Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development
· Ritu Sharma
MFAN Co-Chair and Vice President for Policy Advocacy, CARE
· Michele Sumilas
Former Acting Deputy Administrator for Management and Resources, USAID (Biden Administration)
· Noam Unger
Director and Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and former Policy Office Director and Acting Chief Strategy Officer, USAID
Today’s release of forward-looking policy prescriptions for the future of U.S. international assistance builds on MFAN’s March 12th recommendations for the State Department-USAID reorganization -- The Future of U.S. Development and Humanitarian Assistance: Recommendations for Influence and Impact -- which emphasized the need for strong, centralized leadership in the State Department to coordinate and elevate development and humanitarian priorities and to salvage as many of USAID’s capabilities as possible. It also reinforces MFAN’s work in helping reinvigorate the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance, under the leadership of co-chairs Reps. Young Kim (R-CA) and Adam Smith (D-WA).
About MFAN
The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) is a bipartisan coalition of international development practitioners, policy advocates, and experts committed to making U.S. foreign assistance more effective, accountable, and results-driven.
For media inquiries, contact Tod Preston, MFAN Executive Director, at Tod.Preston@modernizeaid.net
