II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 491
To establish the position of Director of Foreign Assistance in the Department
of State, and for other purposes
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025
Mr. K
AINE(for himself, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. COONS, Mr.
M
ERKLEY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WELCH,
Mr. M
ARKEY, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. BENNET, Mr.
W
HITEHOUSE, and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To establish the position of Director of Foreign Assistance
in the Department of State, and for other purposes
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Assistance Ac-4
countability and Oversight Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
It is the sense of Congress that— 7
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(1) the strategic delivery of foreign assistance is 1
critical to supporting the United States’ interests 2
around the world; 3
(2) foreign assistance furthers United States’ 4
national security priorities, advances United States’ 5
values, and ensures the United States is the partner 6
of choice for areas such as defense procurement and 7
economic investment in cutting edge scientific re-8
search; 9
(3) the administration of foreign assistance pro-10
gramming should be— 11
(A) managed by a qualified, competent De-12
partment of State official; and 13
(B) subject to strict congressional over-14
sight pursuant to its constitutionally authorized 15
power of the purse; and 16
(4) section 1413 of the Foreign Affairs Reform 17
and Restructuring Act of 1998 (Division G of Public 18
Law 105–277; 22 U.S.C. 6563) codified into law the 19
status of the United States Agency for International 20
Development as an ‘‘independent establishment’’ 21
outside of the Department of State. 22
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SEC. 3. DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE AT THE DE-1
PARTMENT OF STATE. 2
Section 1 of the State Department Basic Authorities 3
Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a) is amended by adding at 4
the end the following: 5
‘‘(p) D
IRECTOR OFFOREIGNASSISTANCE.— 6
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 7
‘‘(A) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COM -8
MITTEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional 9
committees’ means— 10
‘‘(i) the Committee on Foreign Rela-11
tions of the Senate; 12
‘‘(ii) the Committee on Appropriations 13
of the Senate; 14
‘‘(iii) the Committee on Foreign Af-15
fairs of the House of Representatives; and 16
‘‘(iv) the Committee on Appropria-17
tions of the House of Representatives. 18
‘‘(B) P
ERSONNEL DECISION .—The term 19
‘personnel decision’ means any decision relating 20
to promotions, transfers, demotions, or dismis-21
sals. 22
‘‘(2) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in 23
the Department of State, a Director of Foreign As-24
sistance (referred to in this subsection as the ‘Direc-25
tor’), who— 26
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‘‘(A) shall report directly to the Deputy 1
Secretary of State for Management and Re-2
sources; and 3
‘‘(B) should not hold another position in 4
the United States Government while holding the 5
position of Director. 6
‘‘(3) D
UTIES.—The Director shall— 7
‘‘(A) optimize the impact of foreign assist-8
ance by— 9
‘‘(i) strategically aligning foreign as-10
sistance resources to the Secretary of 11
State’s overarching foreign policy goals; 12
‘‘(ii) measuring effectiveness; and 13
‘‘(iii) promoting evidence-based poli-14
cies, including budget formulation, jus-15
tification, and execution mechanisms; 16
‘‘(B) serve as a resource for the Secretary 17
of State, the Deputy Secretary of State, the 18
Under Secretaries of State, the Administrator 19
of the United States Agency for International 20
Development, and the heads of other Federal 21
departments and agencies that implement 22
United States foreign assistance programs to 23
support the development of policies, plans, and 24
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programs to achieve national security, foreign 1
policy, and development goals; 2
‘‘(C) perform results-oriented functions re-3
lated to United States foreign assistance, in-4
cluding— 5
‘‘(i) leading an integrated budget, 6
strategic planning, and performance proc-7
ess as part of integrated interagency pro-8
gram planning to amplify foreign assist-9
ance; 10
‘‘(ii) promoting monitoring and eval-11
uation; 12
‘‘(iii) increasing transparency; 13
‘‘(iv) facilitating data analysis, infor-14
mation management, and reporting; and 15
‘‘(v) developing foreign assistance 16
policies through research and partnerships; 17
‘‘(D) support interagency collaboration on 18
foreign assistance programs and policies of 19
other Federal agencies and entities, including 20
the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the 21
United States International Development Fi-22
nance Corporation, the Department of the 23
Treasury, the United States Trade and Devel-24
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opment Agency, the Export-Import Bank of the 1
United States, and the Peace Corps; 2
‘‘(E) create and direct, as part of inte-3
grated interagency program planning to amplify 4
foreign assistance, consolidated policy, strategic, 5
and program plans, the operational budget, pro-6
gram evaluation and results reporting from bu-7
reaus and offices within the Department of 8
State and the United States Agency for Inter-9
national Development. 10
‘‘(4) A
PPOINTMENT; CONFIRMATION.— 11
‘‘(A) A
PPOINTMENT.—The Director shall 12
be appointed by the President, by and with the 13
advice and consent of the Senate. 14
‘‘(B) A
CTING DIRECTOR.—No individual 15
may serve as Director in an acting capacity or 16
otherwise assume the responsibilities of the Di-17
rector for more than 90 days without being con-18
firmed to such position by the Senate. 19
‘‘(5) P
ERSONNEL DECISIONS .—Any adverse 20
personnel decision made by the Director, or affecting 21
the Director or any staff member reporting to the 22
Director, including demotions, suspensions, fur-23
loughs and reductions in force, shall require the ap-24
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proval of the Deputy Secretary of State for Manage-1
ment and Resources.’’. 2
SEC. 4. TIMELY OBLIGATION OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS. 3
All funds appropriated by Congress to the Depart-4
ment of State or to the United States Agency for Inter-5
national Development, or that are otherwise under the di-6
rection of the Director of Foreign Assistance, shall be 7
made available to be obligated not later than 90 days after 8
the date of the enactment of the related appropriations 9
Act. 10
Æ
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