As the House and Senate both advance legislation to reauthorize the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), MFAN is working closely with policymakers on Capitol Hill to ensure that the reauthorization preserves the agency’s development mandate and includes new measures to strengthen impact. The DFC plays a key role in supporting international development and economic growth by providing loans, equity investments, and political risk insurance to private-sector projects in development countries. The agency’s reauthorization offers a timely and necessary opportunity to improve and strengthen its capacity since it was first established seven years ago.
An update on where things stand: The two chambers have developed different approaches to address needed DFC reforms. Tremendous progress has been made, and both the House and Senate bills have provisions which would make the DFC’s operations stronger, meet foreign policy objectives, and ensure this government bank compliments and promotes the private sector rather than competes with it.
A bipartisan reauthorization bill introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Risch and Ranking Member Shaheen has been included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), recently passed by the Senate. In September, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a reauthorization bill – a measure with votes largely falling along party lines. Now the two bills must be reconciled into a final reauthorization package and hopefully enacted into law by the end of the year.
Despite the government shutdown, MFAN continues to work with congressional offices on this reconciliation process. Our experts have developed five key recommendations to shape the reauthorization and help support an effective and impactful DFC.
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, please reach out to Tod Preston, MFAN Executive Director, at Tod.Preston@modernizeaid.net
