Bush Administration and US Development Aid
             Assisting developing nations throughout the world is a US foreign policy priority in the pursuit of what the administration of President George W. Bush considers its moral imperative to combat poverty. The realization and implementation of this foreign policy Bush believes, requires a new developmental initiative that would increase accountability from both the wealthiest and poorest nations and would link and encourage partnerships between developed nations and developing ones. To demonstrate the US commitment to this initiative, President Bush raised the US core development assistance fund by 50% or 5 billion over the 2002 level and will deposit these funds into a New Millennium Challenge Account for the benefit of developing nations' economies and standards of living (Inter-American Development Bank 2002).
             The US has been the world's largest provider of humanitarian assistance and food aid at $3 billion in 2000; contributed $978 million in 2001 to international peacekeeping (Inter-American Development); imports the most from developing countries - $450 billion in 2000 alone or eight times more than all Official Development Assistance country donors; and is the top source of private capital to developing nations at an average of $36 billion a year between 1997 and 2000 and of charitable donations to these nations, $4 billion in 2000 alone. In 2000, the US gave out $10 billion worth of Official Development Assistance and even substantially increased afterwards in priority sectors, such as HIV/AIDS 54%, basic education 50%, trade and investment 38%, and agriculture 38%. Its core development assistance package rose significantly in Africa at 30%, Asia and the Near East at 39% and Latin America and the Caribbean at 29% (Helping Developing Nations).
             The Bush administra...