It's Time to Reform USAID

Although as much as $1.7 billion might be slashed from the U.S. foreign assistance budget because of sequester cuts, little outcry has emerged. Foreign aid has never been popular: In opinion polls, it’s often the first expenditure suggested for the chopping block. Surveys suggest Americans feel a moral responsibility to help the world’s worst off, but they believe the aid bureaucracy is bloated and doesn’t work.

That, however, is a misperception. In practice, the foreign aid system, and in particular, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), work very well in accomplishing what Washington politicians want them to do. But that includes a range of purposes that have little to do with helping the world’s poor.