[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4558 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4558

 To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose 
        the position of the United States in the United Nations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 15, 2005

Mr. Gohmert (for himself, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mrs. Drake, Mr. Otter, 
Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Hall, Mr. Culberson, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. 
Kingston, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr. Norwood, Mr. Hostettler, Mr. Weldon of 
  Florida, Mr. Marchant, and Ms. Foxx) introduced the following bill; 
     which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose 
        the position of the United States in the United Nations.

    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 of 2005''.

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

    (a) Prohibition.--United States assistance may not be provided to a 
country that opposed the position of the United States in the United 
Nations.
    (b) Exemption Due to Change in Government.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of State may exempt a 
        country from the prohibition described in subsection (a) if the 
        Secretary determines that since the beginning of the most 
        recent session of the General Assembly--
                    (A) there has been a fundamental change in the 
                leadership and policies of the government of a country 
                to which the prohibition in such subsection applies; 
                and
                    (B) as a result of such change the government of 
                such country will no longer oppose the position of the 
                United States in the United Nations.
            (2) Duration of exemption.--An exemption under paragraph 
        (1) shall be effective only until submission of the next report 
        required under section 406 of the Foreign Relations 
        Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (22 U.S.C. 2414a) 
        that is submitted after the Secretary makes such an exemption.
            (3) Notification and discussion.--The Secretary shall 
        notify Congress with respect to an exemption made under 
        paragraph (1), together with a discussion of the basis for the 
        Secretary's determination with respect to each such exemption.
    (c) Exemption for National Security Interests.--The President may 
exempt a country from the prohibition described in subsection (a) if 
the President determines that such exemption is in the national 
security interests of the United States.
    (d) Definitions.--As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``opposed the position of the United States'' 
        means, in the case of a country, that the country's votes in 
        the United Nations General Assembly during the most recent 
        session of the General Assembly and, in the case of a country 
        which is a member of the United Nations Security Council, the 
        country's votes in the Security Council during the most recent 
        session of the General Assembly, were the same as the position 
        of the United States less than 50 percent of the time, using 
        for this purpose a comparison of the vote cast by each member 
        country with the vote cast by the United States, as described 
        in the annual report submitted to 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 a comparison of the vote cast by 
        each member country with the vote cast by the United States is 
        described in the most recent report submitted to 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 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; relating to the 
                economic support fund);
                    (B) chapter 5 of part II of such Act (22 U.S.C. 
                2347 et seq.; relating to international military 
                education and training); or
                    (C) the ``Foreign Military Financing Program'' 
                account under section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act 
                (22 U.S.C. 2763).
    (e) Effective Date.--This Act shall take effect upon the date of 
the submission to Congress of the report required under section 406 of 
the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991, 
that is required to be submitted by March 31, 2006.
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