Connolly seeks answers on Trump administration compliance with Compliance with Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act

Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is asking Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for a compliance report on the Trump administration’s implementation of the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016.

Connolly was joined by FATAA co-authors Judge Ted Poe (R-TX) and Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Marco Rubio (R-FL). Representatives Adam Smith (D-WA) and Ted Yoho (R-FL), and Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Chris Coons (D-DE), co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance, also signed the letter.

“We are writing to support efforts to improve the transparency and accountability of U.S. foreign assistance, including the implementation of the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016,” the members wrote. “With better information about U.S. aid, decision-makers, taxpayers, partner countries, and civil society have a much clearer picture of where the U.S. is spending its money, for what purpose, and with what result.”

The members requested additional information on progress made including:

• A list of agencies that have failed to adopt goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans by OMB’s January 2019 deadline;
• A list of agencies that have failed to publish timely, high-quality aid data;
• And a full report of OMB’s efforts to consolidate duplicative aid dashboards and consolidate State’s ForeignAssistance.gov (FA.gov) and USAID’s Foreign Aid Explorer (FAE) websites.

“Please provide all requested information and a briefing by January 12, 2019. We look forward to continuing to work with you to advance the accountability and effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid,” the members concluded.

“We must ensure that FATAA is being properly implemented in order to maximize the impact of U.S. foreign aid,” said George Ingram, MFAN Co-Chair and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Evaluation policies, high-quality data, and access to U.S. aid information will enable U.S. assistance to be more accountable and effective.”

“The Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act, when fully implemented, will ensure our scarce foreign assistance dollars are used efficiently and effectively,” said Tessie San Martin, MFAN Co-Chair and President & CEO of Plan International USA. “We support the call for OMB to provide information on the progress and status of FATAA implementation.”

The full letter is available here.