Devex Newswire: A coming clash in US Congress over foreign affairs money

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are set to collide over two very different foreign aid budgets. Also in today’s edition: The home of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals is, logically, the United Nations. Apparently, the French have a thing or two to say about that. A refreshingly boring affair The U.S. House of Representatives is like a group of unruly teenagers compared to their stodgier peers in the Senate. Those differences are reflected in how each chamber of Congress approached the foreign affairs budget. Deliberations in the House were animated by culture war fireworks over everything from critical race theory to supposed drag queen workshops (yes, you heard that right) as Republicans cobbled together a spending bill that would gut many foreign aid programs. Meanwhile, budget talks in the Senate were a much more staid — dare we say mature — bipartisan affair. The result: The Senate bill proposes nearly $10 billion more for foreign affairs funding than the $52.5 billion in the House version. The caveat: While the Senate bill includes a less than 1% reduction from fiscal year 2023 funding, and some programs even see a slight boost, it’s still about 10% below the president's budget request, in part due to constraints from the debt limit agreement approved earlier this year. My colleague Adva Saldinger has a detailed breakdown of who’d get what, but suffice it to say, the across-the-aisle praise was practically a lovest by the very low standards of today’s vicious partisan politics. The top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, called the bill “fiscally responsible.” Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said it “proves that despite the many deep policy disagreements between Democrats and Republicans, we still can and should work together to advance the interests of our nation and our constituents.” Perhaps, but the two chambers still have to reconcile the two divergent proposals. Let the fireworks begin! Read: Bipartisan foreign affairs budget bill sails through Senate committee Spies and SDGs We know what Rome’s development forte is: Food and agriculture. Geneva: Health and human rights. New York: United Nations. Washington, D.C.: USAID, World Bank/IMF. Vienna: Spies. Come again? Rémy Rioux, the head of the French Development Agency, showed a bit of humor in his interview with Devex Brussels Correspondent Vince Chadwick when talking about what cities are known for. As for his own capital? “Paris’ role as part of a network of global cities is unclear or reduced to museums and the Fashion Week or things like that, which is a bit unfair probably for those that are living in Paris. In London, the private side ate it all, probably.” He mused how Paris, with its many schools and universities, could be a hub for the SDGs, serving as a “laboratory” that bridges sustainable science and sustainable finance. “We will try to say something more, maybe by the next Paris Peace Forum in November. And then we have the next global financing summit in 2025. That’s what summits are about: It sets a deadline, to demonstrate we did something more,” he adds. On that note, he defended Paris’ decision to hold June’s Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, which some criticized for trying to sideline the U.N. and its role in finding ways to finance the SDGs. “The good news and the sign of success of the SDGs is that other players are taking it on board,” Rioux says. “I feared, actually, that the SDGs would disappear. So I'm quite surprised and happy that they are still alive. And maybe not enough — there are many people who should know, who don’t know.” It seems the French want to be the ones to help inform them. Read: French development chief on how Paris could be a hub for achieving SDGs (Pro) + Not a Devex Pro member yet? Access all our exclusive reporting and analysis by starting your 15-day free trial today. Just don’t call it reparations The loss and damage fund that would compensate lower-income countries for the effects of climate change — which they did little to fuel but now disproportionately bear the brunt of — is often referred to as climate reparations, sometimes derisively. The author of the influential Bridgetown Agenda rejects that description. Economist Avinash Persaud tells Devex Climate Correspondent William Worley that loss and damage is about “global solidarity” and helping countries rebuild after climate shocks — rather than making amends for burning fossil fuels in the past. “Reparations imply payment for past deeds. The loss and damage fund finances a resilient recovery after a climatic event, including slow onset events,” Persaud argues. The distinction matters, particularly in diplomacy, where each word is freighted with meaning — and, sometimes, misconception. If a recent hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives is any indication, Persaud will have his work cut out for him dispelling those misconceptions. At the hearing, Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida, asked U.S. climate envoy John Kerry if he was “planning to commit America to climate reparations ... [paying] some other country because they had a flood, or they had a hurricane, or a typhoon or wildfire?” Kerry immediately shot back, “No, under no circumstances.” Read: Bridgetown Agenda author rejects idea of climate reparations Related: How the Bridgetown Initiative envisions global financial system reform (Pro) Opinion corner • Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame, Sightsavers’ global advocacy manager for social inclusion, almost “gave up on life” growing up blind as a teenager in Ghana. She argues in an op-ed for Devex that the feminist movement needs to include women with disabilities. “We were angry and tired, but we are now turning this anger into something practical,” she writes. • Speaking of anger, that’s what Themrise Khan, an independent policy researcher in global development and migration, says she feels whenever she hears the “decolonization of aid” narrative. “It spread rapidly among a select group of us who were tired of the old colonial practices still in existence in a post-colonial era of ‘white people’ coming and telling the rest of us what to do,” she writes. “It was further bolstered by adding ‘localization’ and ‘shift the power’ to its repertoire. And thus, a new industry within an industry was born.” • There is no law in Africa that makes it mandatory for African businesses to address human trafficking and modern slavery in their supply chains. That needs to change, argues James Kofi Annan, the founder of children’s rights and anti-child trafficking NGO Challenging Heights, who himself was sent away at the age of 6 to work on a fishing boat, nine hours away from his home in Ghana, only managing to escape seven years later. Testerone-jacked data In many countries, men are considered the head of the household. That means when data collectors come knocking for vital information, they get the male perspective by default, silencing women’s voices by default as well. Don’t miss Devex Senior Editor for Special Coverage Catherine Cheney on LinkedIn as she talks with a panel of experts about how governments, donors, and NGOs can collect information in a way that takes women into account. Tune in to “Getting past ‘male unless otherwise indicated’ in data” on Wednesday. In other news Human rights groups raised concerns that Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s one-day summit to address illegal migration would result in anti-migrant policies that put a burden on Africa to keep Africans out of Europe. [The Hill] The European Union provided €10.7 million to aid UNICEF's relief efforts for vulnerable migrant and refugee children and enhance disaster preparedness in Latin America and the Caribbean. [UNICEF] The Humanitarian Medal, a new British award, is being launched to recognize and honor "unsung heroes" who've responded to major disasters and emergencies both domestically and abroad. [BBC] The U.N.'s chief humanitarian official in Yemen calls for justice after the recent attack on World Food Programme staff, resulting in one death and one injury. [UN News] Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.