Howard Berman: “The beauty of the Millennium Challenge Account is that it is not about neighbors and it is not about friends and it is…”

“The beauty of the Millennium Challenge Account is that it is not about neighbors and it is not about friends and it is not about how much you voted with us in the U.N. and it is not what your position was on Iraq. It is about helping, committing a portion of our foreign assistance to the poorest of the poor where the people of those countries have undertaken steps in terms of governance to promote democracy, human rights in terms of respect, and economic progress and concern for public health and education; and where they have made those internal changes and reforms, to try and establish what we think is fundamental principles that apply to all people all around the world, where they have made those decisions without regard to political reasons, interests of neighbors versus others but simply based on their poverty. We are going to devote a portion of our political resources to helping the poorest of the poor. Unfortunately, when you make that decision, if you raise the eligibility standard earlier than it otherwise would be raised, you will therefore have less money to help the poorest of the poor. It is just automatic simple logic and math.”