Rep. Panetta Leads Call for Transparency, Accountability in the Administration’s Global Health Strategy
Monterey, CA – United States Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio requesting greater transparency and stronger oversight of the Trump Administration’s “America First Global Health Strategy.” Rep. Panetta led 34 other lawmakers in calling for the public release of global health agreements and detailed answers about how the Administration will measure results, monitor spending, and respond to the misuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Following the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the transfer of foreign assistance responsibilities to the U.S. Department of State, the Administration announced roughly $16 billion in bilateral assistance programs for 36 countries. Under the new model, assistance goes directly to foreign governments. However, only a handful of the agreements have been made publicly available, and the lawmakers raised concerns that many participating governments have a history of corruption involving foreign assistance.
“While we applaud efforts to build up global health mechanisms that fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Ebola and other infectious diseases, this new model raises significant concerns about the efficient and transparent use of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” wrote Rep. Panetta and his colleagues. “Given that the Administration’s dismantling of USAID was triggered by alleged wasteful spending, we want to ensure this new foreign assistance model is free of waste, fraud and abuse.”
The lawmakers highlighted the multiple layers of oversight USAID used to monitor funding provided to nongovernmental organizations and other implementing partners, including contracting officers, program officials, technical experts, and the USAID Office of Inspector General. They cited testimony from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the USAID Office of Inspector General indicating limited ability to track or audit funds sent directly to foreign governments. While acknowledging the need to modernize foreign assistance, the lawmakers warned that shifting to government-to-government assistance requires clear safeguards to protect taxpayer dollars.
“Failure to implement these programs thoughtfully, while ensuring accountability to the taxpayer, jeopardizes American leadership in the global health space, which is second to none. It also encourages nations to seek partnerships with our adversaries, while making America less safe, less strong and less prosperous,” continued the lawmakers.
The lawmakers requested written responses explaining how the Administration will define success and monitor whether the health agreements meet their objectives, who will oversee that work, and what staffing, technical expertise, and funding will support it. They also asked the State Department to identify the systems and safeguards it will use to track and audit spending and explain how it will respond to allegations or evidence of misuse, including whether it will immediately suspend assistance.
To ensure taxpayers can review these commitments, the lawmakers called for all existing and future global health agreements to be made publicly available. They requested a detailed explanation if the State Department cannot release the agreements.
The letter was also signed by Reps. Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Gil Cisneros (CA-31), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Jim Costa (CA-21), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Jared Golden (ME-02), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Bill Keating (MA-09), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Ted Lieu (CA-36), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Dave Min (CA-47), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Johnny Olszewski (MD-02), Nancy Pelosi (CA-11), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Brad Schneider (IL-10), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Tom Suozzi (NY-03), Dina Titus (NV-01), James Walkinshaw (VA-11), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25).
The full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Secretary Rubio,
We write to express concerns about transparency and oversight of the Administration’s new bilateral international assistance model, which grants money directly to foreign governments. Following the dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the transfer of foreign assistance to the U.S. Department of State, the Administration announced roughly $16 billion in bi-lateral assistance programs for 36 countries and launched the America First Global Health Strategy. While we applaud efforts to build up global health mechanisms that fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Ebola and other infectious diseases, this new model raises significant concerns about the efficient and transparent use of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Since the bi-lateral international assistance agreements were signed with host countries, only a handful have been made available to the U.S. public for review. Furthermore, many of the foreign governments that have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the State Department have a history of corruption with respect to foreign assistance.
USAID had several layers of accountability mechanisms built to help monitor funds sent to nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and other implementing partners, including country-based contracting officers, programmatic officials and U.S.-based technical officials, as well as the USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG). Testimony from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the USAID OIG indicate that there is limited ability to track or audit U.S. taxpayer dollars sent directly to foreign governments. While many development stakeholders agree that a foreign assistance model based primarily on international NGOs needs improvement and modernization, the wholesale adoption of government-to-government assistance without accountability or transparency raises serious questions.
Given that the Administration’s dismantling of USAID was triggered by alleged wasteful spending, we want to ensure this new foreign assistance model is free of waste, fraud and abuse. We therefore request written responses to the following questions:
1) Please detail how the Administration will monitor and evaluate these health agreements to ensure they meet their objectives. How will success be defined?
2) Who will be charged with monitoring and evaluating these bi-lateral assistance agreements? What resources, including staffing, technical capacity, and financial support, are being deployed to support these efforts?
3) How will the State Department respond to allegations or evidence of improper use of U.S. taxpayer dollars used in foreign assistance? Do you plan to immediately cut off all aid if U.S. taxpayer money is not used for its intended purpose? If not, please explain why.
4) Please detail how the Administration plans to track and audit U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to foreign governments to ensure they are used for their purposes of supporting global health programs. What systems, tools, and safeguards are in place to ensure adequate monitoring and evaluation?
5) We request that all previously signed, as well as all future, global health agreements be made publicly available. If you are unable to do so, please provide a detailed explanation of why you can’t make these agreements publicly available for review to U.S. taxpayers.
Failure to implement these programs thoughtfully, while ensuring accountability to the taxpayer, jeopardizes American leadership in the global health space, which is second to none. It also encourages nations to seek partnerships with our adversaries, while making America less safe, less strong and less prosperous.
Thank you for your attention to these questions as we work toward a shared goal of ensuring quality oversight of a critical tool in our national security apparatus.
Sincerely,
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