August 2005 —
President Bush surprised both critics and supporters of his foreign policies in March 2002—fourteen months after his inauguration and six months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001—when he unveiled his proposal to establish the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
The size of Bush's funding commitment was remarkable; the President proposed funding the MCA at the rate of $5 billion per year within three fiscal years, which represented a 50 percent increase in official development assistance. The MCA vision also offered a bold departure from past aid mechanisms. It promised to focus entirely on poor countries that were implementing sound economic development and poverty reduction strategies, selected on the basis of objective indicators.