Interesting - state department wanted Kerry to wait on foreign aid reform bill

[karynnj]

Background - this is the bill marked up and voted out of committee this week. Link to excellent Prosense thread on the bill - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x6906 ) Apparently, State wanted Kerry to sit on it until they completed two reviews - one of which would not finish until summer or fall next year. That timing would likely mean really waiting until 2011 because with as an election year, it is not clear how long a Fall session would be. Lugar apparently threatened to pull his support. (me - Was this to give Kerry some cover with an angry woman?? Note the staffer says the committee did not want to wait)

A committee staffer confirmed the substance of the account, and explained that the committee simply didn't want to wait until the reviews were completed. The PSD is expected perhaps in January but the QDDR won't be completed until summer or fall of 2010 (State has promised to release an interim report at some point).
<snip I thought I would never have to read these theory of management sentences that I had run diagramming and still not understanding when I retired from corporate America. If this is how they start their review, I predict they will have a team somewhere spending a month or so writing the mission statement that will be a few paragraphs long.>

Slaughter, in a speech Monday at the Center for American Progress, repeated the cryptic mantra that has the whole development world scratching their heads.

"The overall aim of the QDDR is to integrate and elevate development and diplomacy across the spectrum of the American foreign policy," she said.

"You still need to integrate the power of development professionals, the ideas and the expertise, with the political clout and strategy and reach of diplomacy. That seems to me to be the perfect example of integrated power ... and that is what Secretary Clinton would like to see as one of her legacies."

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/11/16/over_states_objections_sfrc_to_move_ahead_on_foreign_aid_bill

This is an interesting read the tea leaves story. The fact is that a bill put out as Kerry/Lugar will likely pass pretty easily as he is pretty respected by the Republicans. They really need to do something and waiting means it might take years. Also, I suspect the chair has strong, practical ideas on what should be done and may secretly be happy not having to negotiate.