Obama Transition
ONE recently prepared a set of transition documents for President-elect Obama’s transition team. These documents essentially represented ONE’s best effort to put in writing a set of recommendations for how the Obama team could put its vision for development into action after taking office. The booklet included issue specific recommendations that could be implemented both in the short and longer term.
All of these recommendations are meant to fit into Obama’s broader vision for fighting poverty and making the Millennium Development Goals America’s own goals for development. In order to do so, President-elect Obama also committed to double U.S. spending on development assistance by $25 billion. In an effort to tie the two together, ONE’s transition document includes a section outlining the annual expenditures necessary to reach this goal over five years. It lists each of Obama’s existing commitments to development and added those priorities that ONE recommended to fulfill the overall vision. All of these things can be accomplished with an increase of $23.96 billion by fiscal year 2013.
While this increase sounds large, it still only represents less than 1% of the U.S. federal budget and can provide significant assistance to countries struggling to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Some of the priorities and commitments we include are:
- Fully funding PEPFAR, tuberculosis and malaria as authorized in the Lantos-Hyde act passed this year
- Create an initiative to build long-term agricultural capacity
- Work toward universal primary education by signing and funding the Education for All Bill
- Create and small and medium enterprise fund to support economic growth in Africa
These are just a few of the ideas mentioned in the briefing.
The scale up acknowledges that the United States is currently facing a difficult economic crisis and that therefore the new Administration will have to strategically choose which priorities to invest in immediately and which will have to be initiated a year or two down the line. Ultimately however, despite the difficult budget environment facing the U.S. in this upcoming year, ONE hopes that the Obama administration will begin the scale up with a total increase of $4 billion over the spending level in fiscal year 2008 so that those most critical initiatives can begin their scale up. Delaying the effort will only make annual increases required in future years more difficult to achieve. You can view the chart showing scale-up here.
-Erin Thornton, Policy Director, ONE
As the world gets ready to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama, we are asking the President-elect to use his inaugural address to spread hope and dignity to those most in need. President-elect Obama’s inauguration will provide an opportunity to take unprecedented action in the fight against global poverty. A few weeks ago, ONE launched a petition asking the President-elect to “make a clear affirmation of his pledge to fight poverty and preventable diseases worldwide” in his inaugural address on January 20th. Already we’ve smashed our goal of 50,000 signers with over 86,000!
Soon we will deliver this petition to Obama’s transition team. Before we do, please take a moment to add your voice, and be sure to ask your friends and family to do the same.
Dear President-elect Barack Obama,
In your inaugural address, please make a clear affirmation of your pledge to fight poverty and preventable diseases worldwide, and support that statement with an FY2010 budget request that puts the U.S. on track to meet your historic commitments.
-Chris Scott
As you may have heard, President-elect Barack Obama officially nominated Governor Bill Richardson to serve as Secretary of Commerce earlier today. During his run for the Democratic presidential nomination Governor Richardson went On the Record with ONE to talk about what he’d do to fight global poverty. Below are some interesting quotes and background information.
Richardson talks to ONE about extreme poverty
“When I travel, individuals come up to me in the poorest nations on earth and ask, “What has America done.” The reason is everyone expects America make an effort to make a difference in the world because we are the most powerful nation in the world. But we also need to regain our moral authority.
I also want to make a difference in the areas of pandemic diseases. AIDS. Refugees. Malnutrition. Enormous challenges in Africa—the poorest continent in the earth. Why is it that nobody cares about Africa? I always say that. Why did we let Rwanda happen? We should care about peacekeeping conflicts in Africa. We should care about the fact that close to 25% of the entire continent may be HIV positive. We should forge private/ public partnerships to make Africa a priority in the world’s foreign policy.
I think it’s also important that we recognize that America needs to lead.”
Richardson Praises ONE Campaign, Calls for a Marshall Plan for the 21st Century
SANTA FE, NM — Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Bill Richardson released the following statement today, praising the ONE campaign and calling for a sustained effort to eradicate poverty in the developing world:
“Millions dead from disease in the developing world, mothers who go to bed hungry every night, children who have never seen the inside of a classroom — this is our burden. Our belief is that we can and must do better.
“I am proud to support the ONE campaign in its efforts to alleviate suffering and transform the developing world. Accomplishing these goals will require an enduring will and an abiding faith in the dignity of every human being. I am confident that we will be successful.
“As a former UN Ambassador and a diplomat, I know that just as poverty-stricken neighborhoods produce crime, poverty-stricken states produce terrorism. Ending world poverty is thus not only a moral imperative, it is vital to the security of the United States. ONE’s specific targets — fighting HIV/AIDS, improving education, providing housing, ensuring the health of mothers and children, and providing safe, clean water — are critical for the developing world and America alike. Our next President must actively support these goals at home and abroad.
“We need a Marshall Plan for the 21st century. Developed nations, public organizations, and private companies must coordinate a sustained, focused, intensive effort to wipe out the developing world’s most pressing problems. The original Marshall Plan lifted Europe from the ravages of war and established the United States as the dominant economic player in the world. I believe that during the coming century, our nation’s economic security — and the security of the world economy — depends on replicating that success in the developing world.
“I applaud the ONE campaign for beginning the hard work that the world community must collectively finish. Only if we can work together will we have the strength to solve this problem.”
-Chris Scott
Last week, ONE released its transition briefing to President-elect Obama’s transition team. Our transition briefing builds on the already robust agenda laid out by the President-elect with a series of short- and long-term policy pitches to the transition team along with a detailed sketch of how the Obama Administration can meet its commitment to double foreign assistance.
A transition briefing like this is meant to provide our thoughts on new priorities that could be taken up early on in the Administration and that also fit well with President-elect Obama’s vision. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all the things that ONE will support during the next four years whether they be existing priorities or new ideas that may emerge.
President-elect Obama’s campaign commitment to double foreign assistance provides us a framework for our requests and while it may sound ambitious, it is a critical necessity to the overarching goals. We are not naïve to the financial realities our country is facing, but for far too long development has played a supportive role in our overall foreign policy. It is our hope that President Obama will act on the vision he described as a candidate and raise the profile of development. We believe this briefing provides a roadmap to do that.
We hope that you find this briefing helpful and look forward to working with President Obama, his Administration, Congress, and all of our members to make this vision a reality.
-Erin Thornton, ONE’s Policy Director
Today we’ve been posting backgrounds and other key information on President-elect Obama’s security team as announced earlier today. Below is some information on Dr. Susan Rice, who Obama has announced will be nominated to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations.
Foreign Policy Related Activities (from U.S Center for Global Engagement website)
As Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Dr. Rice visited the majority of the 48 states in Sub-Saharan Africa and lobbied for increasing foreign aid to the region. She supported an all-African peacekeeping force to avert conflict on the continent and supported a congressional measure that allowed Washington to provide food assistance to the rebels in Sudan. Dr. Rice’s work at the Brookings Institution has focused on U.S. foreign policy, weak and failing states, the implications of global poverty and transnational security threats.
Selected Statements
Rice, President-elect Obama Security Team press conference, 12/1/08
“With your election, Mr. President-elect, the American people have signaled to the world that our nation is on the path to change. Now, we must fulfill that promise by joining with others to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century to prevent conflict, to promote peace, combat terrorism, present the spread and use of nuclear weapons, tackle climate change, end genocide, fight poverty and disease.
“All of these goals are vital to America’s security but none can be accomplished by America alone. To enhance our common security, we must invest in our common humanity. And to do so, we need capable partners and far more effective international institutions.
“The United Nations was, in major part, America’s creation.”
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In his security team rollout this morning, President-elect Obama announced that Robert Gates would be staying on as the Secretary of Defense.
Below are some of Gates’ notable statements about global development.
Gates, Remarks at the 2008 US Global Leadership Campaign Tribute Dinner, 7/15/08
“Broadly speaking, when it comes to America’s engagement with the rest of the world, you probably don’t hear this often from a Secretary of Defense, it is important that the military is – and is clearly seen to be – in a supporting role to civilian agencies.”
“It has become clear that America’s civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long – relative to what we spend on the military, and more important, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world.”
“In recent years the lines separating war, peace, diplomacy, and development have become more blurred, and no longer fit the neat organizational charts of the 20th century. All the various elements and stakeholders working in the international arena – military and civilian, government and private – have learned to stretch outside their comfort zone to work together and achieve results.”
Gates, Remarks at the University of Kansas, 11/26/07
“What is clear to me is that there is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security – diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development. Secretary Rice addressed this need in a speech at Georgetown University nearly two years ago. We must focus our energies beyond the guns and steel of the military, beyond just our brave soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen. We must also focus our energies on the other elements of national power that will be so crucial in the coming years.”
-Chris Scott
As you may know, President-elect Barack Obama announced his security team this morning, including James L. Jones as his National Security Advisor. Below we’ve included a brief bio and some remarks he made for the House Armed Services Committee that shed some light on where he stands on Africa.
Bio
General James Jones is the former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and the Commander of the United States European Command and also served as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps. Jones retired from the United States Marine Corps in February 2007 after 40 years of service. During his final assignment, he helped the North Atlantic Treaty Organization organize discussions on energy issues and the defense of critical infrastructures, and he worked to advocate energy security as a core part of NATO’s future missions. Since retiring from the military, he has served as Chairman of the Congressional Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq and as special envoy for Middle East Security.
He is currently the Chairman of the Atlantic Council of the United States and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Jones has worked closely with government, business, and civic leaders in an effort to protect and advance U.S. and allied interests around the world. He is a leading proponent of overhauling U.S. defense, diplomacy, and foreign development programs to deal with the emerging threats of the 21st century.
General Jones is known as an able negotiator who delivers results “without resorting to confrontation.” He is said to be a close friend of Senator McCain. According to a recent report from Newsweek , Jones met President-elect Obama through Tom Daschle.
Selected Statements
“African security issues will increasingly continue to directly affect our homeland security,” Marine Gen. James L. Jones, commander of European Command, told the Senate and House Armed Services committees in statements prepared for delivery yesterday and today, respectively. “For relatively small, but consistent investments, our theater efforts in Africa will have major impacts on … challenges we face.
“Early recognition of this reality is very important,” he said.
“Violence in West Africa has created ungoverned pockets that extend across national borders and threaten to further destabilize an already fragile region,” Jones said. “Broad expanses of marginally governed areas can become havens for terrorists and criminals and have become … attractive to terrorists groups increasingly denied sanctuaries in Afghanistan and the Middle East.”
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