Menendez Presents New Strategy to Aid Latin America

By Megan Fletcher
March 21, 2007

Event: A Conversation with Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Location: Lyndon B. Johnson Room, Capitol Building

At a March 21 presentation on Capitol Hill, Bob Menendez (D-NJ) spoke about the role of the United States in Latin America's social development. He criticized President Bush's overdue decision to visit the region, diminished core development funding to the region in the president's 2008 budget proposal, and the administration's "lack of policy" towards Latin America. Menendez, instead, advocated re-engagement in the hemisphere.

Menendez warned that continued lack of interest in the region could prove to be problematic for the United States in the future.

"I believe that it is in the national interest and national security interest of the United States to work to address challenges in the Western Hemisphere," he said. "By reducing problems in the hemisphere, we are actually fixing problems here at home."

The senator was optimistic, however, that a new bipartisan consensus-led by Democrats in Congress and Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon-on the need for a new strategy in the hemisphere was emerging. He indicated that this new strategy must be pro-active, rather than reactive, and it must go beyond trade and counter-narcotics to tackle poverty and inequality.

Menendez pointed to his proposed Social Investment and Economic Development Fund for the Americas as an initiative that would bring $2.5 billion dollars worth of aid to the region over the next five years. This money will be used for housing, healthcare, and education. The fund will be managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Inter-American Development Bank.