Obama to Send Bipartisan Delegation to Assist Recovery Efforts in Haiti

Rory Cooper / January 14, 2010

According to (confirmed) reports this morning, President Obama will send a bipartisan delegation led by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to assist recovery efforts in Haiti. The United States has already launched a robust aid operation including Coast Guard and Naval ships and deployed Marines.  The U.S. also has floating military hospitals, doctors and medical supplies on the way.  President Obama has ordered a “swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives” and by all accounts, that is what is occurring.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both cancelled their regular schedules and devoted their full attention to this crisis.  USAID has already begun shipment of over 14,550 tons of food aid “which will help feed 1.2 million people for two weeks.”

It is heartening to see that the Obama administration has responded so immediately to this epic disaster.  This is the response that is expected of the most humanitarian nation on the planet.  The United States is the world’s largest donor of development assistance, and that doesn’t even count the tens of billions of dollars that Americans privately donate to humanitarian missions every year.  In 2003 for example, the U.S. government spent nearly $2.5 billion in emergency and disaster relief aid. All other countries combined gave $3.4 billion. The generosity of America is often overlooked, even domestically. (more…)