McCollum Proposes Cabinet-level Department for International Development and Humanitarian Relief

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McCollum Proposes Cabinet-level Department for International Development and Humanitarian Relief

Cabinet Secretary in next administration would put U.S. civilian foreign assistance on par with defense and diplomacy

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), speaking Wednesday in a hearing of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the State Department and Foreign Operations, proposed that Congress begin planning for the creation of a cabinet-level department of international development in the next presidential administration.

"I strongly support Congress and our next President developing a strategy, a structure, and a level of resource commitment to support a cabinet level secretary who has the statutory authority to give focus, impose coordination, and champion a long-view of development," she said at the hearing entitled "Foreign Assistance: Proposals for Reform."

Currently, U.S. efforts to provide foreign assistance to the developing world are spread across at least fifty federal departments and agencies, resulting in a lack of coordination, coherence, transparency, and accountability.

McCollum pointed out that the Bush administration's National Security Strategy from both 2002 and 2006 is based on the three pillars of "defense, diplomacy and development." A ‘Secretary of Development' with the power to craft a comprehensive approach to global aid would not only improve lives worldwide and help restore U.S. standing in the world; it would also play a vital role in preventive national security.

"We need to be smart and use our nation's great military, political and economic power wisely," McCollum said at the hearing. "This means our development investments need to be focused, effective, and yield real outcomes in the lives of needy people around the world."

The Congresswoman's full statement from yesterday's hearing is available here.

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