[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 343 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 343

    To establish a pilot program of Central Asian scholarships for 
   undergraduate and graduate level public policy internships in the 
                             United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 25, 2005

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To establish a pilot program of Central Asian scholarships for 
   undergraduate and graduate level public policy internships in the 
                             United States.

    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 ``Central Asia Education Enhancement 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. CENTRAL ASIA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC POLICY INTERNSHIPS.

    (a) Pilot Program Established.--As part of the educational and 
cultural exchange programs of the Department of State, the Secretary of 
State shall establish a pilot program for the fiscal years 2006, 2007, 
and 2008, of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students from 
Central Asia for public policy internships in the United States. 
Subject to the availability of appropriations, for each fiscal year 50 
students shall participate in the program established under this 
section.
    (b) General Provisions.--
            (1) In general.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
        section, the program established pursuant to subsection (a) 
        shall be carried out under applicable provisions of the United 
        States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 and the 
        Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961.
            (2) Scholarship eligibility requirements.--In addition to 
        such other requirements as may be established by the Secretary 
        of State, a scholarship recipient under this section--
                    (A) shall be proficient in the English language;
                    (B) shall be a student at an undergraduate or 
                graduate school level at an accredited institution of 
                higher education with a record of outstanding academic 
                achievement and demonstrated intellectual abilities; 
                and
                    (C) may not have received an academic scholarship 
                or grant from the United States Government in the 3 
                years preceding the award of a scholarship under this 
                section.
            (3) Internships.--Internships under this section shall be 
        for periods of not more than 6 months.
            (4) Priority consideration.--In the award of internships 
        under this section, the Secretary shall give priority 
        consideration to students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and 
        Uzbekistan.
            (5) Definition.--For the purposes of this section, the term 
        ``Central Asia'' means the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, 
        Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--In addition to such amounts 
as are otherwise authorized to be appropriated for the Department of 
State for educational and cultural exchange programs, there are 
authorized to be appropriated for each of the fiscal years 2006, 2007, 
and 2008, $600,000 to carry out this section.
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