A push for development abroad

Washington – President Bush, who considers his administration's recasting of foreign assistance and in particular a boost in aid to Africa as hallmarks of his legacy, is warning that the global financial crisis is no time to cut international aid.

Mr. Bush used a White House summit on international development Tuesday to send a message both domestically and abroad that economic and national security interests require maintaining foreign aid, even if the natural tendency in an economic downturn is to turn attention – and budgets – inward.

Doing so, Bush said, "would be a serious mistake."

The Bush administration touts a 2004 reform of US foreign assistance programs that focuses on "core principles" of good governance, transparency, results-based programs, and democracy. Bush has also increased aid to Africa, with emphasis on AIDS funding and wiping out malaria – programs for which an administration otherwise widely disparaged in the foreign-policy arena has received praise.

After falling off in the post-cold-war years, total US foreign aid rebounded after 9/11 as the Bush administration integrated foreign assistance into a new national security vision.  …