Congress has approved $1 billion for the Millennium ChallengeAccount for FY 2004. To accomplish President Bush's goal of"reward[ing] nations that have more open markets," the MillenniumChallenge Corporation should focus on each candidate country'sprogress toward greater economic freedom. The Heritage Foundation'sIndex of Economic Freedom tracks precisely such progress.
The Asian countries should use this 10-year anniversary to solidifytheir ongoing recovery by bolstering their commitment to greatereconomic freedom, and the U.S. should reinforce its vision ofeconomic freedom and prosperity in Asia by supporting thesecountries' efforts to increase their economic freedom and bycongressional action to renew the President's expired tradepromotion authority.
Leaving developing economies outside emerging international security regimes would both widen the gap between the developed and developing worlds and create new opportunities and sanctuaries forterrorists to exploit. The United States should help countries jointhe fight against terrorism by promoting free trade agreements,ensuring that foreign assistance programs do not perpetuate badpolicies, and better organizing U.S. efforts to offer technicalsecurity assistance.
Foreword The promotion of economic freedom at home and abroad is essential not only for a genuine and sustained revitalization of the U.S. economy, but also to strengthen U.S. national security. In 2010, the United States fell from the highest category of economically free countries (those with overall scores above 80) in the Index of Economic Freedom. It has been stuck in the ranks of the “mostly free,” second-tier economic freedom category ever since.