Create an FP account to save articles to read later and in the FP mobile app.

Sign Up

ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN

The Cable goes inside the foreign policy machine, from Foggy Bottom to Turtle Bay, the White House to Embassy Row.

Bill and Melinda Gates come to D.C. hat in hand

Bill and Melinda Gates are making the rounds in Washington today to make their case for an increase in foreign development aid, specifically related to the global heath cause the world’s wealthiest couple have made their full time jobs. The pair is meeting with Congressmen, policy makers, and administration officials all day, leading up to ...

By Josh Rogin

October 27, 2009, 6:17 PM

Bill and Melinda Gates are making the rounds in Washington today to make their case for an increase in foreign development aid, specifically related to the global heath cause the world’s wealthiest couple have made their full time jobs.

The pair is meeting with Congressmen, policy makers, and administration officials all day, leading up to their video presentation “Why we are impatient optimists,” to be broadcast live on the web at 7 p.m. Their message is that huge increases made by the Bush administration are yielding results and must not fall victim to a lack of attention or budget resources in Washington.

The approximately $8 billion foreign aid health commitments is exponentially larger than when the Bush administration took office in 2001, but the couple expressed concern that the economic crisis and the ongoing government funding woes might put pressure on leaders to find savings by not continuing the growth of aid funding.

“This administration has been great at saying yes, this is effective, and they have plans to get it up quite a bit above the $8 billion,” said Bill. “Nobody knows, as people try to balance the budget, how exactly that’s going to work.”

While AIDS and Malaria have been somewhat beaten back in the third world, maternal and early childhood deaths are still largely unaddressed and require new investment, Melinda said.

“You’re not hearing about the positive changes that are happening because of these investments,” she said, “This money works, it’s not a huge part of the government budget, but what we’re doing actually works and probably there needs to be more.”

The couple’s main vehicle is the Gates Foundation’s Living Proof Project, which is partnered with the Global Fund, the President’s Malaria Initiative, and the GAVI Alliance.

And while the group doesn’t have explicit positions on the road ahead for foreign aid reform, they are acutely aware that major decisions are in the offing about the structure and role of foreign aid organizations in the U.S. government.

Senators Chris Dodd, D-CT, Richard Durbin, D-IL, and Ben Cardin, D-MD, introduced the latest in a string of bills aimed at strengthening USAID and its administrator this month.

“The United States faces an ever-growing array of foreign policy challenges, and in nearly every instance, international development should be part of the solution,” said Dodd, “An empowered USAID is critical for a strong and effective American foreign and national security policy, and providing USAID with the resources, support, and staff it needs will go a long way towards meeting these important goals.”

The role of USAID and its administrator are part of two ongoing administration reviews, the State Department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, largely guided by deputy secretary Jack Lew and policy planning chief Anne-Marie Slaughter, and a PNR review at the National Security Council led by Gayle Smith.

Simon Hayter/Getty Images

Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.

Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.

A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.

Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin

Tag: Foreign Aid