The U.S. is hosting a major international conference on aid and development (AP - Bush hosts international aid summit):

The event brings together about 500 representatives of nations ‚ from Africa to Romania ‚ that receive U.S. aid; faith-based organizations; and non-governmental, private and public leaders from the United States and the developing world.

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Henrietta Fore said Monday that in all regions of the world, the Bush administration has doubled, tripled or quadrupled development assistance. She said the administration also has worked to reform U.S. foreign assistance through projects like the president's initiative on HIV/AIDS and the Millennium Challenge Corp., which provides aid to nations that embrace democracy and free markets, fight corruption and invest in education and health.

The report notes a criticism of the U.S. aid program, not that we are giving too much or too little aid, but that the aid is not as well managed as it could be.

The State Department has released this transcript of Secretary Rice's statement to the conference. Additional conference news coverage has been provided by Voice of America, Bloomberg, and CNN. If you are interested in researching U.S. aid programs I would recommend starting with the USAID website which highlights the many ways U.S. economic and humanitarian assistance is administered and disbursed.