Millienum Challenge Corp. faces scrutiny

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. federal agency charged with issuing foreign aid faces scrutiny for taking too long to help poor, but well-governed countries.

The Bush administration enacted The Millennium Challenge Corporation to oversee $4.8 billion in aid programs in 15 countries in Africa, Central America and other regions.

The agency is vulnerable during a budget crisis facing U.S. legislators, with both the House and Senate proposing a budget far less than the administration requested for the agency for 2008, The New York Times said Friday.

The Senate proposed cutting the initial funding of aid programs in half on the stipulation that the rest of the money will be realized if the supported nations fulfill their obligations under the aid programs.

African leaders criticized the proposed budget cuts and new measures that would place more responsibility in the hands of emerging nations unaccustomed to large, complex aid projects.

The president of Ghana and the chief of the African Union, John A. Kufuor, said in the Times that the new measures spread funding "so thin that at the end of the day the necessary difference is not made."

John J. Danilovich, the chief executive of the MCC, said the criticisms of the agency were well founded.

"We need to do better and we will do better," he said.