TESTIMONY: Jim Kolbe Testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Future of MCC

By Congressman Jim Kolbe | DECEMBER 8, 2015

Testimony of the Hon. Jim Kolbe, former Member of Congress and CDR participant, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the future of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Chairman Corker, Ranking Member Cardin, and members of the Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the subject of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. This is an important and timely agency for your consideration, as the MCC recently passed its ten-year mark and is currently developing a new five-year strategic plan. I would like to commend MCC CEO Dana Hyde for her looking ahead and her commitment to keep the agency at the forefront of good development practice.

I am also delighted to be joined by my distinguished colleagues on this panel. I worked with Andrew Natsios when he ably served as administrator of the United States Agency for International Development under President Bush while I was chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and Related Agencies, and more recently together as members of the Consensus for Development Reform, which aims to strengthen

U.S. global leadership through reforming and improving our approach to global development. I’ve also had the pleasure of working with Nancy Birdsall in numerous capacities, including jointly serving on the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development at the German Marshall Fund, which produced a report examining key issues around the role of development assistance. Nancy remains a respected thought leader on development. While she recently announced she plans to step down from her leadership post at the Center for Global Development next year, I know she will continue to be an intellectual force and leading voice on the future of development…

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Click here to download and read Congressman Kolbe’s full testimony