$2.5 billion requested for Millennium Challenge Account in FY 2005

$2.5 billion requested for Millennium Challenge Account in FY 2005    The Bush administration has requested $2.5 billion for its crash grant program to help fight poverty in democratic developing countries in fiscal year 2005.
   In February 2003, the administration sent the Congress a budget request for the so-called Millennium Challenge Account and legislation to authorize the formation of the Millennium Challenge Corp., the agency developed to manage the account’s progress.
   In its fiscal year 2005 budget request, released Feb. 2, the Bush administration said the Millennium Challenge Corp. will fund proposals for grants that have “clear, measurable objectives, a sound financial plan and indicators for assessing progress.”
   In 2004, Congress appropriated $1 billion for the Millennium Challenge Account. It’s President Bush’s goal to reach a funding level for the account of $5 billion by fiscal year 2006.
   U.S.-flag vessel operators and American farmers are concerned that the Millennium Challenge Account may eventually diminish funding levels for traditional food-aid programs, such as the P.L. 480 Food for Progress, and the new McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.