[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3707 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3707

    To authorize funds for the site selection and construction of a 
  facility in Taipei, Taiwan suitable for the mission of the American 
                          Institute in Taiwan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 29, 2000

 Mr. Bereuter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize funds for the site selection and construction of a 
  facility in Taipei, Taiwan suitable for the mission of the American 
                          Institute in Taiwan.

    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 ``American Institute in Taiwan 
Facilities Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) in the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 (22 U.S.C. 3301 et 
        seq.), the Congress established the American Institute in 
        Taiwan (hereafter in this Act referred to as ``AIT''), a 
        nonprofit corporation incorporated in the District of Columbia, 
        to carry out on behalf of the United States Government any and 
        all programs, transactions, and other relations with Taiwan;
            (2) the Congress has recognized AIT for the successful role 
        it has played in sustaining and enhancing United States 
        relations with Taiwan;
            (3) the Taipei office of AIT is housed in buildings which 
        were not originally designed for the important functions that 
        AIT performs, whose location does not provide adequate security 
        for its employees, and which, because they are almost 50 years 
        old, have become increasingly expensive to maintain;
            (4) the aging state of the AIT office building in Taipei is 
        neither conducive to the safety and welfare of AIT's American 
        and local employees nor commensurate with the level of contact 
        that exists between the United States and Taiwan;
            (5) because of the unofficial character of United States 
        relations with Taiwan, the Department of State is not 
        responsible for funding the construction of a new office 
        building for the Taipei office of AIT;
            (6) AIT has made a good faith effort to set aside funds for 
        the construction of a new office building, but these funds will 
        be insufficient to construct a building that is large and 
        secure enough to meet AIT's current and future needs; and
            (7) because the Congress established AIT and has a strong 
        interest in United States relations with Taiwan, the Congress 
        has a special responsibility to ensure that AIT's requirements 
        for safe and appropriate office quarters are met.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated the sum of $75,000,000 for plans for, acquisition of a new 
site for, and construction of, a new facility in Taipei, Taiwan, for 
AIT to carry out its purposes under the Taiwan Relations Act.
    (b) Purposes.--Funds made available under subsection (a) may be 
used only for the purposes of--
            (1) the acquisition of property, facilities and, if 
        necessary, any residences or other structures located in close 
        physical proximity to such facilities, and
            (2) the provision of security enhancements to AIT to the 
        extent necessary to bring the United States Government into 
        compliance with all requirements applicable to the security of 
        United States diplomatic facilities.
    (c) Availability of Funds.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to 
subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.
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