[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1054 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1054

 To prohibit certain foreign assistance to countries that consistently 
    oppose the United States position in the United Nations General 
                               Assembly.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 10, 1999

 Mr. Goodling (for himself, Mr. Metcalf, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Brady of 
Texas, and Mr. Baker) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
              to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit certain foreign assistance to countries that consistently 
    oppose the United States position in the United Nations General 
                               Assembly.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United Nations Voting Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES THAT CONSISTENTLY OPPOSE 
              THE UNITED STATES POSITION IN THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL 
              ASSEMBLY.

    (a) Prohibition.--United States assistance may not be provided to a 
country that consistently opposed the United States position in the 
United Nations General Assembly during the most recent session of the 
General Assembly.
    (b) Change in Government.--If--
            (1) the Secretary of State determines that, since the 
        beginning of the most recent session of the General Assembly, 
        there has been a fundamental change in the leadership and 
        policies of the government of a country to which the 
        prohibition in subsection (a) applies, and
            (2) the Secretary believes that because of that change the 
        government of that country will no longer consistently oppose 
        the United States position in the General Assembly,
the Secretary may exempt that country from that prohibition. Any such 
exemption shall be effective only until submission of the next report 
under section 406 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 
Years 1990 and 1991 (22 U.S.C. 2414a). The Secretary shall submit to 
the Congress a certification of each exemption made under this 
subsection. Such certification shall be accompanied by a discussion of 
the basis for the Secretary's determination and belief with respect to 
such exemption.
    (c) Waiver Authority.--The Secretary of State may waive the 
requirement of subsection (a) if the Secretary determines and reports 
to the Congress that despite the United Nations voting pattern of a 
particular country, the provision of United States assistance to that 
country is necessary to promote United States foreign policy 
objectives.
    (d) Definitions.--As used in this section--
            (1) the term ``consistently opposed the United States 
        position'' means, in the case of a country, that the country's 
        votes in the United Nations General Assembly coincided with the 
        United States position less than 25 percent of the time, using 
        for this purpose the overall percentage-of-voting coincidences 
        set forth in the annual report submitted to the Congress 
        pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Relations Authorization 
        Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991;
            (2) the term ``most recent session of the General 
        Assembly'' means the most recently completed plenary session of 
        the General Assembly for which overall percentage-of-voting 
        coincidences is set forth in the most recent report submitted 
        to the Congress pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign 
        Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991; and
            (3) the term ``United States assistance'' means assistance 
        under--
                    (A) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance 
                Act of 1961 (relating to the economic support fund),
                    (B) chapter 5 of part II of that Act (relating to 
                international military education and training), or
                    (C) the ``Foreign Military Financing Program'' 
                account under section 23 of the Arms Export Control 
                Act.
    (e) Effective Date.--This section takes effect upon the date of the 
submission to the Congress of the report pursuant to section 406 of the 
Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991, that 
is required to be submitted by March 31, 2000.
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