The Millennium Challenge Corporation, the United States aid agency that awards large grants to improve economic growth in nations with records of good governance, is one step closer to expanding the number of countries it can help.
This week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill, the Millennium Challenge Corporation Candidate Country Reform Act, that would allow MCC to potentially work in all countries that qualify for lending from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which supports middle-income nations.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives this week introduced their version of the bill. The House passed a similar bill last year, but it failed to get through the Senate before the end of the Congress, and so had to be reintroduced.