President Obama hosted Haitian President René Préval at the White House on Wednesday as part of Préval’s visit with top US officials in Washington. The Haitian government is finalizing an aid proposal ahead of an international donors’ conference later this month. Obama pledged to help Haiti rebuild following the devastating earthquake.

President Obama: “As President Préval and I discussed, the situation on the ground remains dire, and people should be under no illusions that the crisis is over. Many Haitians are still in need, desperate need in some cases, of shelter and food and medicine. And with the spring rains approaching, those needs will only grow. The challenge now is to prevent a second disaster.”

Despite Obama’s comments, Préval’s pleas for US assistance to his government have fallen mostly on deaf ears. In an interview with the Washington Post, Préval said congressional leaders gave a cool reception to his request for help in overcoming a projected $350 million budget shortfall. Two weeks after the earthquake, the Associated Press reported the Haitian government is receiving less than a penny for each dollar the United States spends on aid efforts in Haiti. Thirty-three cents of every dollar was then going to US military aid, over three times the nine cents spent on food. In Haiti, an unemployed Haitian worker criticized Préval’s visit abroad.

Pierre Aliodor: '’We don't get nothing to eat. We don’t have a safe place to live. You know what I mean? So we don’t have nothing. We’re just living alone. So we don’t see the Haitian government. So that’s the reason, when Préval is moving, just going to meet to Obama, he’s just going to take care of his business, so he’s not going to do nothing for the Haitian people.’’