Increased aid for nations that 'govern justly'

President Bush says expanded aid to developing countries is necessary because "hope is an answer to terror ... opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity ... because faith requires it and conscience demands it." While per-capita income in poor countries has doubled in two generations, half of the world's population lives on under $2 a day. AIDS and civil wars are depleting life expectancy. Under the president's plan, aid will increase by $10 billion over three years-a 50 percent increase in what the United States now spends. He will propose to Congress adding $1.66 billion for fiscal year 2004; $3.33 billion for 2005; and $5 billion for 2006. Under this plan, humanitarian assistance accumulates in a special fund dubbed the Millennium Challenge account and goes only to nations "that govern justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom." In concrete terms that means:

Existing programs to provide food to North Korea and textbooks to Afghanistan will not be dropped, even though they do not qualify for the new funds.