Andrew Albertson, YPFP member and Executive Director of the Project on Middle East Democracy, will moderate a panel entitled, Fiscal Year 2009 Appropriations and Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights in the Middle East.

Also on the panel is YPFP Member Stephen McInerney, POMED's Director of Advocacy and a member of the YPFP Middle East Discussion Group.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:00 – 11:30 am. Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2200

Please RSVP by contacting: rsvp@pomed.org

President Bush recently submitted his budget request for fiscal year 2009 to the Congress, the final such request of his eight-year tenure. This budget included marked increases in funding for democracy and governance programs across the Middle East and elsewhere.

The House and Senate are currently considering the request and have begun the appropriations process, whereby they decide on which programs and accounts to conform with the President’s budget and where to deviate from it. Therefore, it merits examining the levels of funding for democracy and governance programs for the Middle East, as well as the various bilateral foreign assistance packages to the region.

What are the most significant changes in these portions of the budget request, as compared with the appropriations made in previous years? How does the budget impact US efforts to support democracy in the Middle East and North Africa? How are the appropriations made by Congress likely to compare with this request? How might appropriations made this year affect the institutional legacy of President Bush’s “freedom agenda?” And which democracy and governance programs established or expanded during President Bush’s tenure are most likely to receive continued support by the next administration?

Please join us for a panel discussion with:

Amb. Edward Gabriel, President and CEO of The Gabriel Company, LLC, where he advises multinational corporations on international affairs and domestic policy, and former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco.

Stephen McInerney, Director of Advocacy for the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and author of the April 2008 article “The Bush Administration’s Budget and Democracy in the Arab World” in the Carnegie Endowment’s Arab Reform Bulletin.

Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House and former Deputy Assistant Administrator and Director of the Center for Democracy and Governance (now the Office of Democracy and Governance) at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Moderated by Andrew Albertson, Executive Director, Project on Middle East Democracy

Metro: Capitol South (Blue and Orange Line)