Compassionate Conservatism Lite Posted by Michael Signer

In the C'mon-You've-Got-To-Be-Kidding category, a new report by the General Accounting Office on the Administration's Millenium Challenge Account, revealing that the Administration has obligated only 2% of the funds of the initiative to reduce poverty in the developing world. 

As Byron Dorgan's Democratic Policy Committee reports, the GAO shows the Administration's commitment to this crucial draining-the-swamp enterprise to be the peeling, plastic band-aid it is.  Their report:

Bush Administration has failed to deliver on its promise of "a major new commitment" to the developing world. On March 14, 2002, President Bush announced his proposal for the MCA, a major new initiative to provide foreign assistance to the developing world. The President promised "a major new commitment by the United States to bring hope and opportunity to the world's poorest people," and announced, "I carry this commitment in my soul." Three years after his promise, however, and two years after Congress passed the MCA into law, President Bush has yet to deliver on his promise. The MCA has not contributed a single dollar of foreign assistance to a developing nation. Furthermore, the President has not requested the $5 billion per year he promised for the account in any of the four budgets he has submitted to Congress after he announced the initiative.

In two years, the Bush Administration has obligated only two percent of MCA funds. The developing world is facing a series of destabilizing crises, including the AIDS pandemic, intractable poverty, floods of migrants and refugees, that not only cripple development efforts, but also represent threats to the security of the U.S. and the world. MCA funds could be a critical tool in confronting these crises; however, the Bush Administration has failed to get these funds into the areas of the world where they are needed most. The GAO reports that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the agency responsible for implementing the MCA, has only signed an agreement with one nation, Madagascar, worth only $110 million. Worse still, this $110 million will be made available over four years, meaning that only $55 million - two percent of the $2.5 billion appropriated through two years by Congress - has been obligated for the MCA's first two years.

It might be said that shamelessness makes for good politics, and I've always felt that the Bush team's utter unabashed willingness to do politics for politics' sake has been the key to their greater political victories.  (The "Mission Accomplished" Affair being the most delightful instance of the approach backfiring). 

But even in a shameless politics, there should still be a line.  It's like if ESPN only showed quarterbacks throwing passes, not receivers catching them.  The lack of follow-through on the MCA follows a series of foreign affairs maneuvers where the inattention of the press can only be blamed for aggravating the Administration's already-egregious approach.

The recent "energy policy" -- which aims to build new refineries on military bases -- is the best example.  Two years ago, fighting off John Kerry, President Bush told us in his State of the Union address that energy independence through alternative energy was the way to go.  Even some conservatives wondered whether he'd "gone green".

Days later, his announced budget reduced funds for alternative energy projects.  Today, of course, we've all forgotten the original pump-fake.  The new energy policy aims to make us energy independent by "expanding capacity" domestically -- a reverse strategy from alternative energy, and one that would still enchain the domestic population to craven domestic energy policy. 

The election's over, his supporters are calling in chits, and the media's memory is again short-term.  Game on -- now cut to commercials. 

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As far as energy policy goes, the general thrust of the Bush administration's initiatives are twofold -- distract people with tokenism, and kick the can down the road in terms of implementing energy-efficient technologies.

The debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is just a sideshow in terms of energy security. The industry would like it, of course, but adding (maybe) 600,000-900,000 barrels per day wouldn't fundamentally alter the nature of the world oil market, or fundamentally increase U.S. leverage over prices. The larger question looming over the market in the future is whether Persian Gulf production capacity can really keep up with burgeoning demand, particularly in developing Asia (China, India, and the rest). It's a global market for a fungible commodity -- that's what people forget -- so the sort of price spikes that can take place from a supply disruption or unanticipated spike in demand (i.e. China in 2004) won't be affected by the fact that U.S. production is a bit higher.

In terms of kicking the can down the road, they've taken the rhetorical position of advocating for research on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, while ignoring the possibility of a more rapid implementation of hybrid technology. Hybrid technology is ready to go now -- it's just that Detroit would like to avoid the near-term cost of having to retool their plants -- so talking about fuel cells 20 years from now is a good way of diverting attention from what we should be doing today.

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