TODAY’S MESOP EVENT : BOELL FOUNDATION GERMANY & POMED

The Project on Middle East Democracy & the Heinrich Böll Foundation of North America present:

The Federal Budget & Appropriations: Democracy & Human Rights in the Middle East

Tuesday, June 10, 2014 – 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm – Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 562

POMED and the Heinrich Böll Foundation of North America are pleased to invite you to attend a public panel discussion to release an annual publication, The Federal Budget and Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2015: Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights in the Middle East. This report, authored by POMED’s Executive Director Stephen McInerney and Advocacy Director Cole Bockenfeld, offers a detailed look at U.S. funding and assistance for democracy and governance in the Middle East, the congressional appropriations process, and implications for U.S. policy in the Middle East during a turbulent time. With political transitions – of varying degrees of success – in some states and political stalemate in others, it is important to examine U.S. funding for the Middle East and its impact on relations with nations in the region. 

This publication focuses on several key questions: What does U.S. funding tell us about the priorities of the Obama administration and its policy response to the events in the Middle East? How are transitions in some states – and troubling trends in many – affecting U.S. assistance to the Middle East and North Africa? What are the most significant elements of U.S. funding and appropriations this year, particularly when compared to previous years? What has been the impact of ongoing budget cuts and sequestration on funding for the Middle East? And what might we expect from Congress during its ongoing appropriations process? 

Please join us for a discussion of these issues with: 

Lorne Craner

Former President, International Republican Institute

Cole Bockenfeld

Advocacy Director, Project on Middle East Democracy

Amy Hawthorne

Senior Fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Atlantic Council

Stephen McInerney

Executive Director, Project on Middle East Democracy

Click here to RSVP for the event.

Copies of the full publication will be available for guests. An electronic version will also be available on our website on June 10, 2014.  Please contact Alex Russell at alex.russell@pomed.org with any questions.