Posted on 06/20/2002 5:29:42 PM PDT by niki
Bush to Propose Another $100 Million Over Five Years for Education in Africa
By Jennifer Loven Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ahead of a summit of industrialized nations intended to focus on the plight of sub-Saharan Africa, President Bush says America should spend $20 million more a year on education there and will visit the continent next year.
Though the proposed spending boost would double the government's investment on an education initiative in Africa, the $200 million total was deemed modest by critics.
The World Bank has estimated that wealthy donor countries will need to commit between $3 billion and $4 billion annually in additional foreign aid over the next 10 years to achieve the goal of universal primary education in the developing world by the year 2015. Estimates of the number of children in poor nations who have never attended school range as high as 125 million, about two-thirds of them girls.
Gene Sperling, former President Clinton's chief White House economic adviser and now head of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations, said 75 million of the children out of school worldwide are in Africa.
"The Bush announcement proposes spending $20 million more each year for education in all of Africa, which is the cost of building just one large high school in the United States," Sperling said. "This proposal is very disappointing."
A bipartisan group of congressmen urged Bush, in a letter sent Thursday, to raise U.S. spending on basic education around the world to $1 billion by 2006.
The president planned to announce his travel plans and the new spending initiative Thursday night at a dinner in memory of the Rev. Leon Sullivan, a Philadelphia minister credited with helping end apartheid in South Africa, White House officials said.
On Wednesday, the president promised an extra $500 million over three years to help prevent mothers in parts of African and the Caribbean from transmitting the AIDS virus to their children.
Africa will be a major focus of the Group of Eight meeting that Bush attends next week in Canada.
The White House hopes the new African initiative will ease criticism about U.S. spending on developing nations and projecting a compassionate image of Bush to both foreign leaders and American voters. The $10 billion U.S. foreign aid budget is the lowest among rich nations as a percentage of economic output.
Rock star Bono and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill toured Africa last month after the singer persuaded the U.S. official to see for himself the importance of debt relief, fair trade and effective aid. O'Neill says the United States is committed to helping Africa, but that aid money should produce measurable results.
The proposed new spending will train more than 420,000 new teachers in Africa, provide more than 250,000 scholarships for girls, and, with help from historically black colleges in America, provide 4 1/2 million more textbooks for children in Africa, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
The president's trip to Africa next year will focus on the benefits of a law that reduces trade barriers to African nations that have market-based economies and policies on reducing poverty, fighting corruption, protecting workers' rights and fostering human rights, Fleischer said.
I'm thinking he needs to start urinating into a paper cup,like every other feral employee who starts doing bizarre things. I'd REALLY hate to think that somebody who wasn't on drugs would act this way.
Do you get brownie points for alliterative Ws?
So what's your verdict on the Constitution?
Well, it's not going to come from tariffs,
so Mr. Read-My-Lips Junior must have some kind of plan to take it outa the hide of ordinary taxpayers.
Those darn globalists just ain't gonna be happy until the average American slides into Third World poverty.
If we used emotions for what the USA does we'd have 500,000 troops in Africa protecting the christians getting slaughtered there !
Wrong! Let Israel defend Israel. America needs to butt-out. If we don't butt-out, we will end up putting our troops in there for "peace keeping". Our troops will be slaughtered and will be taken away from defending American.
54 posted on 4/8/02 12:35 PM Pacific by niki Bush's terrorism talk now
Watching whining weasels waffle!
Wrong.
Comparing military aid for Israel and worldwide socialism does not work.
I don't agree with the feds being involved in our education system, why would I support them being involved in educating Africa?
yep, those darn globalists! ;)
About *any* aid, domestic or foreign, I'm for judicious spending, not giveaway programs or to those who pilfer, or otherwise waste our hard-earned dollars. And, I detest pandering, and much of what is being spent now is nothing more than pandering, begging for votes he won't get anyway.
The deficit is growing daily, and IMO the first and only money for deficit spending is for our military and defense of the country; does not include another Cabinet position.
ST, I am neither a judge nor a policy maker, but IMHO the basis of foreign aid is found in "General Welfare" and "Common Defense".
Registerd, Stratgic Interest is the correct answer. Now we all know that the pre 911 Bush was not going to increase foreign aid. In fact, he didn't announced his policy change until this spring, with a lot of prodding by Congress.
It is in the stratigic interest of the US to prevent Islam from penetrating further into Africa.
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