[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4452 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4452

 To require funds made available to each Federal department and agency 
for United States development or humanitarian assistance programs to be 
 made available to foreign countries through the activities of United 
  States organizations or businesses that are owned or controlled by 
  naturalized United States citizens, or aliens lawfully admitted for 
       permanent residence, who are from those foreign countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 20, 2004

Mr. Meeks of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 
              to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require funds made available to each Federal department and agency 
for United States development or humanitarian assistance programs to be 
 made available to foreign countries through the activities of United 
  States organizations or businesses that are owned or controlled by 
  naturalized United States citizens, or aliens lawfully admitted for 
       permanent residence, who are from those foreign countries.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) American society has long been known for being a 
        ``melting pot'', boasting citizens from all countries and 
        continents across the world.
            (2) After reaching America's shores, naturalized United 
        States citizens and aliens lawfully admitted for permanent 
        residence have taken advantage of educational and 
        entrepreneurial opportunities thereby allowing these 
        individuals to contribute to the economic and cultural riches 
        that define our great Nation.
            (3) Many of these new Americans still have connections to 
        their countries of origin--forming community, educational, 
        religious, and other organizations in the United States that 
        continue to tie them to their homelands. These new Americans 
        send remittances that total more than $70,000,000,000 per year 
        to help loved ones abroad sustain dreams and build new ones.
            (4) At a time when the events of September 11, 2001, have 
        resulted in new and different security concerns for the United 
        States, it is critical that every attempt be made to better 
        understand those foreign countries that receive United States 
        assistance.
            (5) Due to national security implications, the United 
        States Government can no longer afford to conduct foreign 
        policy without the benefit of engagement of foreign countries, 
        including on a cultural, social, technical, and economic basis.
            (6) Naturalized United States citizens and aliens lawfully 
        admitted for permanent residence should be encouraged to use 
        the same skills that they have contributed to the development 
        of the United States toward the development of their countries 
        of origin in order to--
                    (A) take part in introducing or enhancing 
                democratic values abroad;
                    (B) capitalize on America's diversity to establish 
                strong cross-border relationships that can create 
                multilateral bonds for generations to come;
                    (C) utilize multilingual and multicultural segments 
                of American society to ease and reduce costs for 
                project transitions in foreign countries; and
                    (D) encourage long-term sustainable development in 
                foreign countries in which such development has been 
                difficult to obtain.
            (7) Currently, projects under many foreign assistance 
        programs do not involve naturalized United States citizens or 
        aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence who are from 
        the recipient country in leadership roles in the planning, 
        design, and implementation of the projects, and consequently--
                    (A) project leaders often do not transfer critical 
                skills to individuals in the recipient country, making 
                it difficult for long term development to take place; 
                and
                    (B) increased costs relating to cultural adjustment 
                often occur that might not occur if individuals 
                originally from the recipient country were involved in 
                the projects.
            (8) Because many United States Government departments and 
        agencies face management constraints that make it necessary to 
        bundle projects and activities for foreign countries under 
        ``Mega'' contracts and grants, it has become increasingly 
        difficult for smaller United States organizations and 
        businesses owned or controlled by naturalized United States 
        citizens, or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, 
        who are from such foreign countries to compete to carry out 
        those projects and activities.
            (9) To encourage the transference of skills, knowledge, and 
        democratic values that will lead to long-term sustainable 
        development and require fewer transition costs, special 
        preferences should be given to naturalized United States 
        citizens, or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, 
        who are seeking United States foreign assistance funding for 
        projects in their countries of origin.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE 
              FUNDS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES THROUGH UNITED STATES ENTITIES 
              OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY INDIVIDUALS FROM THOSE FOREIGN 
              COUNTRIES.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, up to 10 percent of 
funds made available to each Federal department and agency for any 
fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2005) to carry out United 
States development assistance or humanitarian assistance programs shall 
be made available to foreign countries through the activities of United 
States organizations or businesses that are owned or controlled by 
naturalized United States citizens, or aliens lawfully admitted for 
permanent residence, who are from such foreign countries.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Not later than January 1 of each year, the President shall prepare 
and transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that 
contains a description of the implementation of section 3 for the 
preceding fiscal year. Each such report shall specify the number and 
dollar value or amount (as the case may be) of prime contracts, 
subcontracts, grants, and cooperative agreements awarded to 
organizations and individuals described in such section during the 
preceding fiscal year.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        International Relations of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
            (2) United states development assistance or humanitarian 
        assistance programs.--The term ``United States development 
        assistance or humanitarian assistance programs'' means programs 
        to provide development assistance or humanitarian assistance 
        under major budget functional category 150 (relating to 
        International Affairs), including programs under--
                    (A) chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance 
                Act of 1961 (relating to development assistance);
                    (B) chapter 10 of part I of that Act (relating to 
                the Development Fund for Africa);
                    (C) chapter 11 of part I of that Act (relating to 
                assistance for the independent states of the former 
                Soviet Union);
                    (D) chapter 12 of part I of that Act (relating to 
                assistance for the countries of the South Caucasus and 
                Central Asia region);
                    (E) chapter 4 of part II of that Act (relating to 
                the Economic Support Fund); or
                    (F) the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) 
                Act of 1989.
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