[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 8, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S4836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       MILLENNIUM COMPACTS FOR REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION ACT

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I wish to speak about the successes of the 
Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC, which is one of the U.S. 
Government's newest and most potent resources in the war against global 
poverty.
  MCC was founded by a bipartisan act of Congress in 2004 as a new way 
to deliver foreign assistance. While the U.S. Agency for International 
Development, USAID, remains a critical tool for working with countries 
in need, MCC was given a very specific and focused goal: to reduce 
poverty through economic growth. The countries receiving MCC grants 
would be partners with a strong say in how their money would be spent. 
And, countries would need to compete for MCC dollars--only the best 
governed countries that performed better than their peers on matters of 
economic freedom, ruling justly, and investing in their people, would 
be worthy of MCC funding.
  The MCC model is working. Countries are taking a hard look at their 
problems and poring over their performance scorecards so that they can 
become MCC-eligible. Academics have confirmed that the so-called ``MCC 
Effect''--MCC's ability to incentivize significant policy reforms from 
countries seeking a compact--is real and meaningful.
  MCC countries are reforming in vital ways to be part of MCC. Ghana, 
for example, is reforming its entire power sector in order to receive 
MCC assistance. In Lesotho, women were fundamentally unequal citizens, 
unable to open a bank account without a man's permission. MCC made the 
Lesotho partnership contingent upon removing those barriers, and women 
now enjoy economic freedoms unavailable to them before.
  With 11 years under its belt and a proven record of success, the MCC 
is looking towards the future and assessing how it can amplify its 
already significant effects on fighting poverty. One way we can do that 
is to give MCC the flexibility to coordinate its work on a regional 
basis. That is why I introduced S. 1605, the Millennium Compacts for 
Regional Economic Integration Act, or the M-CORE Act, along with 
Senators Flake, Coons, and Isakson on June 18, 2015. The M-CORE Act 
would enable MCC to establish concurrent compacts in eligible 
developing countries, enhancing their ability to promote economic 
growth and cross-border engagement between and among nations. Through 
the greater regional economic collaboration that MCC regional compacts 
will achieve, countries can address deficiencies in communications, 
transportation, and energy networks. MCC's bilateral compacts have 
increased access to reliable power, built highway corridors, and 
improved business climates, thereby promoting economic growth and 
cross-border engagement within MCC partner countries.
  Regional investments can have an even greater rate of return. In 
Central America, for example, MCC's work on road infrastructure could 
have had an even greater impact if the roads connected across borders. 
And in Africa, neighboring countries could collaborate on a regional 
power pool, connect land-locked countries to transportation 
infrastructure, or address other policy, institutional, and logistical 
challenges that hamper economic growth and development.
  MCC has, by mandate, always focused on economic analysis and rigorous 
data; and its approach to regional investments has been no exception. 
MCC's extensive analysis has concluded that a regional approach to 
poverty reduction, under the right circumstances, can present 
opportunities to take advantage of higher rates of return on investment 
and larger scale reductions in poverty.
  In short, MCC regional investments have the potential to greatly 
enhance economic growth in well-governed regions of the developing 
world. I urge my Senate colleagues to join me in supporting this 
commonsense legislation.

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