policy
October 9, 2018
Haley Steps Down at UN
+Melania in Africa
+Pence on China
Liz Schrayer USGLC is President and CEO of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
HALEY STEPS DOWN.
Speaking from the Oval Office minutes
ago, Ambassador Haley touted her successes
of helping reform the UN, telling reporters:
“It has been an honor of a lifetime.” She
said she will be staying on until the end of
the year and the president plans to name
a successor in 2 to 3 weeks. As one of the
USGLC’s 2017 Tribute Dinner honorees,
Haley played a leadership role in drawing
the world’s attention to a range of humani-
tarian crises including the horrific famines
impacting 30 million people around the
world.
THE BUILD ACT.
With final passage of the BUILD Act in
Congress, this game-changing bipartisan
legislation will put America’s development
finance agenda on steroids – and was signed
into law by President Trump on Friday eve-
ning. Our statement is here.
• BE SMART. This move – key in our
competition with China – will not only
double America’s total development fi-
nance portfolio to $60 billion, but will also
streamline most of these finance tools under
a new standalone agency: the International
Development Finance Corporation. A win-
ning move.
36 iF Magazine | October 2018
• THE CHAMPIONS. A big hat tip to
Senators Corker (R-TN) and Coons (D-
DE) alongside Reps. Yoho (R-FL) and
Smith (D-WA) who drove this legislation
across the finish line – along with the Ad-
ministration’s development finance chief
Ray Washburne.
• VEEP. In a major China speech last week,
Vice President Pence gave a shout-out: “I’m
also pleased to announce that we’re stream-
lining our international development and
finance programs. We’ll be giving foreign
nations a just and transparent alternative to
China’s debt trap diplomacy.”
MORE BIPARTISANSHIP?
And at the same time, the Global Food Se-
curity Act crossed the finish line thanks to
Senators Corker (R-TN), Isakson (R-GA),
and Casey (D-PA) alongside Reps. Royce
(R-CA), Smith (R-NJ), and McCollum
(D-MN). This legislation will help strength-
en America’s Feed the Future initiative for
another 5 years – and continues a steady
drumbeat of 5 bipartisan global develop-
ment bills passed in the 115th Congress.
BUDGET ROUNDUP.
Congress has achieved one of its most pro-
ductive appropriations seasons in a long
time. Five appropriations bills were signed
into law before the fiscal year ended on
September 30th – yet the State-Foreign
Operations bill was not one of them. The
State Department, USAID and other agen-
cies are currently operating under a Con-
tinuing Resolution until after the election
– expect to see more action in December.
UNGA WEEK.
As hundreds of motorcades clogged Man-
hattan for the opening of the UN General
Assembly last month, a couple important is-
sues to highlight:
• COUNTER NARCOTICS. On day
one of UNGA, more than 120 countries
joined the president’s call to action to coun-
ter narcotics around the world. UN Secre-
tary General Antonio Guterres reinforced a
similar message that the USGLC recently
addressed in an op-ed on combatting the
opioid epidemic. Guterres also called the
situation “heartbreaking” and applauded
President Trump for “focusing a global
spotlight on the world drug problem… we
have never needed it more.”
• TACKLING TB. Countries pledged
$13 billion a year by 2022 to defeat tuber-
culosis – the world’s number one infec-
tious killer with 1.3 million deaths last year.
While there were no new global pledges
from the U.S., USAID announced a “new
performance-based Global Accelerator to