Big news from the U.S. Senate

Powerful Senate lawmakers promise to introduce bill that would "transform" U.S. global development

Dear Unlock Aid community,

We’ve got some news we think you’ll be excited about –

Today, two powerful U.S. senators announced their plans to introduce legislation to “transform” the U.S. approach to global development.

Here’s their full statement (link here):

Senators Coons, Ricketts to introduce bill to modernize and strengthen U.S. development assistance

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) released the following statement today regarding their plans to soon introduce legislation to modernize and strengthen U.S. development assistance:

“The United States needs a better, more modern approach to global development that can address the challenges we face today and better promote U.S. security and stability abroad. In the coming weeks, we will introduce bipartisan legislation to reform and modernize the way the U.S. Agency for International Development coordinates and implements its development assistance. These reforms will prioritize effectiveness, foster long-term and sustainable economic growth, integrate innovation, and leverage private-sector partnerships to promote catalytic investment for development. They will transform the way development assistance is delivered to ensure long-term, sustainable development results that promote stability and better meet today’s complex challenges. We owe this to U.S. taxpayers and our partners around the world.”

Specifically, the bill would: 

• Transform how the United States partners with countries and communities globally by creating joint country- and community-led funds and compacts that enable co-investments between the United States and its partners. This will improve the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of U.S. investments.

• Make innovation a centerpiece of the U.S. development strategy by scaling funding for innovations that are already proven to work, increasing the use of innovative financial tools like advanced market commitments to stimulate outside R&D for global challenges – especially in fields like drug discovery – and target investments in critical 21st-century sectors such as digital infrastructure.

• Increase the focus on results by creating new ways for the United States to blend finance and co-invest in pay-for-outcomes funds with philanthropy, impact investors, the private sector, development finance institutions, and other bilateral, multilateral, and allied partners.

Senators Coons and Ricketts plan to introduce the forthcoming legislation in the November Senate work period. Senator Coons is Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Ricketts is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Why does this matter?

Every year, the U.S. spends approximately $60 billion for global challenges like health, education, climate adaptation, and food security. However, U.S. development agencies are stifled by outdated rules, regulations, and business practices – and too dependent on a cottage aid industry that too often stands in the way of working with a next generation of innovators and local communities to solve the world’s hardest challenges.

Senators Coons and Ricketts’ legislation could be a very big deal, representing a sea change in the way the United States invests globally. As currently described, their forthcoming legislation would fix many of the issues that have historically inhibited U.S. agencies from having a bigger and more sustainable impact. Their proposal would also modernize how U.S. agencies get money out the door, to whom, and to what ends. While many proposed measures before Congress today seek to reform important parts of the U.S. global development system, the Coons-Ricketts proposal promises to be the most transformative one yet.

You couldn’t ask for better lawmakers to lead this effort, either. Senators Coons and Ricketts are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Both have excellent reputations for working with members of both political parties to get things done. Senator Coons is also one of the architects of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Does Unlock Aid support this measure?

Yes, and enthusiastically so! In late-2023, we embarked on a 6-month listening tour to ask hundreds of communities in the United States and around the world, “If we could redesign the U.S. approach to global development, what would we do differently?” 

We wrote down what we heard in the form of “Five new principles for global development,” which emphasized that a new 21st-century approach to global development needed to move “beyond aid” to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth, leverage innovation, and create new ways for the United States to co-invest and set priorities with countries and local communities around the world. Then, we worked with a large coalition of actors, including entrepreneurs, social innovators, local leaders, investors, scientists, diaspora leaders, philanthropy, the national security community, businesses, faith community actors, think tanks, and civil society representatives, and many others, to draft illustrative proposals to translate what we heard into specific policy proposals.

The Coons-Ricketts bill promises to deliver on many parts of this ambitious vision.

What happens now?

According to their joint statement, Senators Coons and Ricketts plan to introduce the full bill text next month. We’ll let you know as soon as they do. Once it’s published, we’ll also let you know how to provide feedback to both senators’ offices on ways to improve the bill, or to share feedback with us that we can pass along to them.

By introducing this proposal now, both Senators Coons and Ricketts will presumably be able to incorporate the feedback that they receive in time to then re-introduce the measure in early 2025, when we have a new U.S. president and new U.S. Congress. We’ll then work with you and other coalitions, going full speed ahead to make this bill the law.

We’ve spent the past months and years building up to a moment like this. While there’s still much more work to be done – and we’ll be counting on you for help – knowing that lawmakers like Senators Coons and Ricketts plan to take on as ambitious a proposal as this gives our movement incredible momentum.

Take a look at their statement and let us know what stands out to you. And also let us know if you’d like to work with us and other outside actors to turn this proposal into reality.

To progress,
Unlock Aid