[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6655 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6655
To authorize assistance for Liberia.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 30, 2008
Mr. Jackson of Illinois (for himself, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Berman, Mr.
Payne, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Watson, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Price of
North Carolina, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. Lee, Ms.
McCollum of Minnesota, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr.
Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Carson, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Eddie
Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr.
Scott of Virginia, Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mr. Towns, Mr. Israel, Mr.
Rothman, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Watt, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Clay, Ms. Corrine
Brown of Florida, Mrs. Christensen, and Ms. Edwards of Maryland)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize assistance for Liberia.
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 ``Liberia Stabilization, Economic
Empowerment, Development and Security Act of 2008'' or the ``Liberia
SEEDS Act of 2008''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Since the founding of Liberia, the Liberian people have
been staunch Unites States allies and friends in sub-Saharan
Africa, and the history of Liberia is closely entwined with
that of the United States.
(2) After two brutal civil wars, peace in Liberia was
achieved as a result of implementation of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement of 2003, which was signed in Accra, Ghana, on
August 18, 2003, following the cessation of Liberia's second
national armed civil conflict, which lasted from 1999 to 2003,
and followed the first such conflict, which took place from
1989 to1997.
(3) The Liberian people demonstrated their deep commitment
to a system of democratic, constitutionally based government by
turning out in large numbers to vote in peaceful, free, and
fair presidential and legislative elections on October 11,
2005, and in a free and fair presidential run-off election held
on November 8, 2005, which resulted in the election to office
of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, who became the
first woman elected president of an African country.
(4) The robust and active efforts by the Government of
President Sirleaf to promote the socio-economic development of
Liberia are severely challenged by the abiding legacies of
Liberia's two recent civil wars, and by over a decade of
misgovernance that preceded and contributed to the outbreak of
the first of these conflicts, including--
(A) the near-total destruction of Liberia's public
systems for electricity generation and transmission,
potable water distribution and treatment, and public
sanitation, and the long-term and substantial neglect
of Liberia's limited national all weather road system;
(B) the widespread lack of well-functioning central
government institutions, public sector corruption, and
the general absence of democratic accountability; and
(C) a history of numerous citizen abuses,
curtailments of constitutional freedoms, and often
serious and criminal violations of human rights,
including extortion, child abduction, rape, torture,
and extra-judicial killings, by many members of the
former Armed Forces of Liberia, national police, and
other public security agencies, caused by the
politicization of public security functions, widespread
personal corruption among military and police
personnel, and lack of personnel training.
(5) Since 2003, the United States has invested over
$1,500,000,000 to help end the Liberian conflict, consolidate
the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2003, support the national
democratic elections of 2005, deliver emergency humanitarian
assistance to the Liberian people, and assist in the post-war
economic and political reconstruction of Liberia.
SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
Congress makes the following declarations:
(1) In order to support the democratic and socio-economic
aspirations of the Liberian people, the United States should
continue to support and assist the Government of President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and its energetic and
dedicated efforts to rebuild Liberia economically, socially,
and politically, to expand constitutional freedoms and
protections and the rule of law, and to improve the lives of
the Liberian people.
(2) The United States should also continue to provide
assistance to the people of Liberia in order to--
(A) assist Liberia in making irrevocable and
permanent the peace achieved as a result of
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of
2003 signed in Accra, Ghana, on August 18, 2003;
(B) ensure that Liberia never again becomes a
source of regional military or political instability, a
threat to the sovereignty or territorial integrity of
neighboring countries, or a source of insecurity for
those countries' citizens; and
(C) protect the interests and substantial past and
current investments of the United States in Liberia.
(3) Among other important objectives, assistance provided
by United States for the Liberian people should seek to--
(A) build a robust, private sector-based, market-
driven economy capable of substantially alleviating the
most severe and widespread forms of poverty in Liberia,
in accordance with the United Nations Millennium
Declaration (A/RES/55/2), adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly on September 18, 2000;
(B) build a democratic, accountable, and fully
participatory democratic political system, based on the
constitutional rule of law and well-functioning
government institutions capable of effectively
providing public goods and services to the Liberian
people and of resolving key problems, including unmet
basic socio-economic needs, the inequitable
distribution of resources, and the persisting impact of
undemocratic practices under past Liberian governments,
which contributed to the outbreak of Liberia's two
armed civil conflicts;
(C) help foster close bilateral cooperation between
the United States and Liberia and support cooperation
between Liberia and multilateral and international
organizations; and
(D) assist efforts by the Government of Liberia to
ensure effective governance, and achieve social
development and sustainable, private sector-led
economic growth by--
(i) reconstructing or refurbishing basic
physical infrastructure;
(ii) pursuing efforts to ensure government
accountability, and public sector fiscal and
operational transparency and effectiveness;
(iii) pursuing efforts to ensure public
safety and security and adherence to the rule
of law;
(iv) ensuring that ex-combatants and war-
affected youth are given access to job training
and opportunities to work on public work
projects in order to enable them to contribute
as gainfully employed citizens to the
development of their country; and
(v) supporting Liberian efforts to advance
the pursuit of transitional justice, national
reconciliation, and accountability for crimes
by government officials and others, including
human rights violations and misappropriations
of public funds.
SEC. 4. PURPOSES OF ASSISTANCE.
The purposes of assistance authorized by this Act are to ensure
that the United States, in furtherance of its security and other
national interests, fulfills the U.S. Foreign Assistance Framework
objectives of Peace and Security, Governing Justly and Democratically,
and Economic Growth by providing targeted assistance to support efforts
by the people and Government of Liberia to--
(1) ensure that all Government of Liberia revenues, in
particular revenues derived from the ecologically and
financially sustainable use or sale of Liberia's abundant
natural resources, are used in an accountable, transparent, and
equitable manner for public purposes, including by continuing
to--
(A) provide assistance to support national fiscal
management and oversight capacity development and
reforms under the donor-backed Governance and Economic
Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) during its
remaining period of operation; and
(B) invest in economic good governance programs or
capacity-building efforts that are endorsed or
implemented by the Liberia Reconstruction and
Development Committee (LRDC), its component
subcommittees or associated organs, or any similar
entity that may in the future succeed the LRDC;
(2) build a robust, free market system, spur economic
revitalization and growth, help alleviate poverty, and advance
access to basic services by reconstructing or refurbishing
basic physical infrastructure, or major elements thereof,
including public electricity generation and transmission, clean
water delivery, and sewerage systems, which were substantially
destroyed by years of armed conflict, and support the
Government of Liberia's efforts to improve key sections of
Liberia's national all weather road system, which is
rudimentary, fragmented, and in need of substantial repairs;
(3) create a stream-lined and simplified legal and
regulatory investment regime, including an integrated one-stop
investment licensing system, in order to facilitate and
increase domestic and foreign investment and foster
entrepreneurship;
(4) enhance Liberian Government accountability and
effectiveness, including with respect to managerial and
administrative competency in order to ensure that all central
government ministries, functional agencies, and other public
entities--
(A) develop capacities to provide efficient, cost-
effective, ethical, and rule of law-based public goods
and services to the Liberian people; and
(B) implement measures to counter and overcome the
persisting effects of Liberia's long legacy of poor
governance, corrupt practices, and the frequent absence
of democratic accountability under previous Liberian
administrations;
(5) foster an informed and independent national legislature
capable of effectively crafting and enacting laws, budgets, and
appropriation measures, interacting with the executive branch
as a responsible and co-equal branch of government, and
carrying out legislative oversight functions;
(6) build the operational capacity of the Liberian National
Police, other civilian public security agencies, and other
elements of the justice system, including the court and penal
systems, in order to--
(A) ensure that civilian public security agencies
are capable of providing public safety, and that
together with the other elements of the justice system,
effectively, equitably, and without ethnic, gender,
sexual orientation, or age-based prejudice,
constitutionally enforce Liberian laws; and
(B) prevent the recurrence of past patterns of
behavior by public security agencies during the tenure
of multiple past Liberian administrations, during which
ill-trained personnel frequently abetted abuses of
political power by the national government, engaged in
corrupt acts, and committed numerous and often serious
abuses of human rights and civic freedoms;
(7) build a national system of vocational education
available, in particular, to war-affected youth and ex-
combatants, and to employ such persons, among others, in the
construction of public works projects, both as a means of
making them productive citizens and in order to deter their
potential participation in illicit income-generating
activities; and
(8) assist Liberian Government efforts to advance post-war
national reconciliation, transitional justice, and legal
accountability for past or current acts of misgovernance by
government officials and others.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.
(a) Development Assistance.--The President is authorized to provide
assistance to Liberia for the following activities and purposes:
(1) Roads and bridges.--Phased refurbishment or upgrading
of existing key roads and bridges, initially targeting routes
that carry the highest goods and services traffic, that support
farm-to-market transport needs, or that provide linkages
between key urban and rural population centers, notably those
that provide linkages to isolated regions of the country.
(2) Freeport of monrovia.--Rehabilitation of Monrovia
Freeport, initially targeting priority needs pertaining to the
following objectives:
(A) Measures to facilitate and secure sea-going
vessel navigation within the harbor, including dredging
of silted areas, removal of shipwrecks, and
installation of navigation lights or signals.
(B) Rehabilitation of port wharf berths and piers,
including installation of equipment necessary for
loading and unloading sea-going vessels or for purposes
of delivering maintenance services to such vessels.
(C) Rehabilitation of warehouse buildings nearby or
adjacent to the main wharves, associated adjacent port
roads and facilities or equipment necessary for
transferring goods between sea-going vessels and land-
based vehicles and for loading or unloading land-based
vehicles.
(D) Upgrading of goods transit, transfer, and
import and export processing and customs systems at the
port, including with respect to automation and
streamlining of required paperwork and permit
processing, and enhancement of port security, including
through the provision of training to the Liberian Port
Police and improvements to the perimeter security of
the entire port zone.
(3) Water and sanitation.--Phased design and reconstruction
of potable water sources, such as reservoirs, wells, boreholes,
and water distribution and treatment systems, and sewerage
infrastructure, initially in areas with the highest population
densities, in order to provide widespread public access to
basic potable water and water sanitation.
(4) Electricity sector.--Subject to subsection (e)(2),
phased reconstruction of electricity generating plants, and
associated electrical power transmission and distribution
networks and support for feasibility studies related to that
purpose, initially beginning in areas with the highest
population concentrations, with the eventual aim of connecting
all major population centers to a national power grid or
otherwise ensuring access to electrical power throughout
Liberia, to include the following:
(A) EPPII.--Continued support for the Emergency
Power Program II in the city of Monrovia, as necessary.
(B) Rural power.--Small electrical power generation
projects using biomass, micro-hydrological, solar, or
other small scale, renewable, or local resource
technologies to serve the short and medium-term needs
of key secondary and rural population centers in
Liberia.
(C) Medium and long term power.--Assistance in
support of the following:
(i) The design and reconstruction of a
customer demand-driven, market-based, medium
term electrical generation and distribution
system serving Monrovia and adjacent urban
zones.
(ii) An assessment of future electrical
demand in key secondary population centers in
Liberia and of the associated costs required
for extending electrical power to these centers
from main electrical power generation hubs in
Buchanan, Yekepa, Monrovia, Mt. Coffee, or
other potential generation sites.
(iii) Preparatory activities to be
undertaken prior to the physical rehabilitation
of the Mt. Coffee hydro-electric dam and plant
facility, including an environmental impact
assessment, a study of potential local socio-
economic and population displacement impacts,
engineering and cost assessments of the
facility, architectural and engineering designs
necessary for its rehabilitation, and the
formulation of a market-based, customer demand-
driven business plan aimed at ensuring that the
rehabilitated facility can be operated on a
financially sustainable basis.
(5) Targeted job training and medium-term employment.--
Expansion of support for vocational education programs
available to war-affected youth and ex-combatants, including
those who have previously received reintegration and job
training assistance but remain unemployed or underemployed,
among other populations, and support for the employment of
jobless war-affected youth and ex-combatants in public works
projects undertaken by the Liberian Government or its
development partners.
(b) Economic Support Fund Assistance.--The President is authorized
to provide assistance to Liberia for the following activities and
purposes:
(1) Public sector.--Assistance to support the establishment
of a government employee training institute, assistance to
support and enhance one or more existing Government of Liberia-
designated public sector training organizations, such as the
Liberia Institute of Public Administration, or assistance for
both objectives, to be undertaken--
(A) for the purpose of making general and
specialized managerial, administrative, and service
delivery training available to employees of the
Government of Liberia, including employees of central
government ministries, independent agencies,
commissions, county and local governments, and other
civilian government entities, including judicial,
police, and security agencies;
(B) in partnership with one or more external
partner organizations that possess technical training
expertise in public sector training, such as the Les
Aspin Center for Government at Marquette University;
and
(C) with the objective of developing a permanent
Government of Liberia capacity to maintain a qualified
and well-trained public sector work force.
(2) Good governance.--Technical assistance to enhance
Liberian Government accountability and effectiveness, improve
transparent and accountable fiscal management and revenue
collection and expenditure processes and institutions, and
ensure that central government ministries, functional agencies,
and other public entities develop an enhanced capacity to
provide efficient, cost-effective, ethical, and rule of law-
based public goods and services to the Liberian people,
including support for related capacity development efforts
being pursued under the Governance and Economic Management
Assistance Program (GEMAP) during its remaining period of
operation, and support for economic good governance capacity
building programs or initiatives endorsed or implemented by the
Liberia Reconstruction and Development Committee (LRDC), its
Steering Committee, or its four Working Committees, as long as
the United States shall possess a formal role as a participant
or partner on the LRDC or any analogous Liberian entity that
may in the future succeed the LRDC, including by supporting
efforts to--
(A) improve budgeting and expenditure management;
(B) improve procurement practices and granting of
concessions;
(C) establish, implement, and institutionalize
processes to control corruption;
(D) provide technical support to key financial
management institutions of government;
(E) build the professional capacity of Liberian
public sector institutions and professionals; and
(F) foster consultations between the LRDC, other
Liberian Government organs, and representatives of
interested Liberian civil society groups and
nongovernmental organizations in matters pertaining to
public policy decision making in order to ensure that
diverse political and policy perspectives are
considered during the formulation of such policies.
(3) United states education to build government capacity.--
Assistance to facilitate educational exchanges to enable
Liberian Government officials and professional staff, to
include members of the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches of government, to pursue training or educational
opportunities in the United States, so long as such education
relates directly to their official duties.
(4) Transitional justice and accountability.--Assistance to
support--
(A) the efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Liberia to investigate the causes of
Liberia's past conflicts, promote national
reconciliation, and ensure accountability for crimes
committed during those conflicts; and
(B) efforts by the Liberian Government, notably
those of the Liberian Solicitor General, to legally
track, freeze, and seek restitution to Liberia of
public funds determined to have been misappropriated by
officials of the present or past Liberian Governments.
(c) International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
Assistance.--The President is authorized to provide assistance to
Liberia for the following activities and purposes:
(1) Police and security agencies.--Support for operational
capacity improvements for Liberia's national police and
security agencies, including the following:
(A) An instructional and administrative capacity
building program for Liberia's national Police Academy,
including funding for physical infrastructure for this
purpose, if necessary, in order to--
(i) enable the Police Academy to
independently provide quality basic, recurrent,
advanced, and specialized training for officers
of the Liberia National Police; and
(ii) under an expanded mandate, to develop
a capacity to provide similar training to other
civilian Liberian security agencies, including
the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization,
the Port Police, and the National Security
Agency.
(B) An assessment of the current individual kit,
vehicular, and communication equipment needs of the
Liberia National Police, and provision of such assets,
if warranted, as determined by such an assessment.
(2) Police technical assistance.--Support for the
following:
(A) Maintenance of the current Civilian Police
(CivPol) program of the Bureau of International
Narcotics and Liberia National Police Law Enforcement
Affairs of the Department of State, and a gradual
reformulation of the program, when and as necessary, in
order to deploy United States civilian police officers
and instructors to provide capacity building assistance
and advice to the Police Academy and Liberian National
Police in anticipation of, during, and following the
withdrawal and termination of the United Nations
Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
(B) An expansion of the Liberia National Police
Senior Advisory Team (S.A.T.) program of the Bureau of
International Narcotics and Liberia National Police Law
Enforcement Affairs of the Department of State,
including increased numbers of United States police
advisors deployed to--
(i) advise and help improve the capability
of the Liberian National Police, including
through the deployment of additional advisors
in a roving capacity to support implementation
of S.A.T. program goals at various levels of
the Liberia National Police, including at the
precinct level, and in the various counties of
Liberia; and
(ii) advise and help improve the capability
of the Liberian Port Police at the Freeport of
Monrovia and other jurisdictions served by the
Port Police, in coordination with other
specialized port security training that may be
provided to the Port Police.
(C) Maintenance of the current United States
Liberia National Police Emergency Response Unit (ERU)
support program until such time as the ERU is able to
function independently in the absence of United States
or other donor technical assistance.
(3) Justice sector.--Support and expansion of the current
Justice Sector Support Liberia (JSSL) technical assistance
program of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs of the Department of State in order to--
(A) broaden the impact of JSSL assistance programs
in Monrovia, and to extend its scope and impact to the
county level;
(B) expand access to the judicial system by
establishing or supporting current programs to provide
legal information services to indigent persons, expand
human rights-focused training for members of the
judiciary, justice ministry, penal system personnel,
police, traditional leaders, and communities
experiencing high levels of rights violations, and to
ensure that cases of alleged violations of human rights
and other criminal actions by police officials or
judicial or penal system personnel are justly and fully
adjudicated; and
(C) promote police officer professionalism,
knowledge of ethical and human rights norms, and
interaction with civil society groups, in part by
conducting a rapid field assessment of the capacity of
Liberian nongovernmental law enforcement capacity
building organizations, including the Liberia National
Law Enforcement Association (LINLEA), the Liberia
Female Law Enforcement Association (LIFLEA), and the
Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), to
conduct training and educational workshops for Liberian
law enforcement personnel and, if an assessed
organization is determined on the basis of such an
assessment to be capable of conducting such educational
efforts, by providing assistance to expand and enhance
such capabilities.
(d) Role of Liberian NGOs, Businesses, and Other Entities.--It is
the sense of Congress that a substantial portion of United States
assistance to Liberia should be used to build the capacity of Liberian
nongovernmental organizations and businesses and to foster the growth
of market-based economic competition, and that therefore, to the
maximum extent practicable, the President should provide assistance
authorized under this section through Liberian nongovernmental
organizations, businesses, and other Liberian entities, in part through
the use of a locally-accessible, public bid competition system to
assign contracts for the delivery of goods and services funded by
United States assistance programs in Liberia.
(e) Conditions on Assistance.--
(1) In general.--Assistance authorized under this section
may be made available to Liberia only if--
(A) the Government of Liberia requests the
assistance;
(B) the Government of Liberia and the Government of
the United States consult with each other on all
proposed projects to be carried out using the
assistance;
(C) the Government of Liberia integrates the
assistance into its strategic planning and agrees to
assume responsibility for future recurrent funding and
management of programs receiving United States
assistance authorized under this section; and
(D) the President certifies to Congress that the
United States occupies a formal role as a participant
or partner on the Liberia Reconstruction and
Development Committee (LRDC), its Steering Committee,
and its four Working Committees, or on any other
similar Liberian Government entity established to
coordinate donor development assistance.
(2) Limitations relating to the electricity sector.--In
order to preserve and efficiently utilize Liberia's limited
public revenues and technically proficient and trained
personnel, assistance provided under subsection (a)(4)--
(A) should, to the extent practicable, fund
programs undertaken by the Liberia Electricity
Corporation, the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy,
or any related, currently existing public entities with
a mandate pertaining to the financing, regulation,
generation, transmission, or sale of electrical power;
and
(B) may be used to fund needs assessments and
feasibility studies pertaining to the potential
establishment of new government electrical sector
entities, such as a St. Paul River Authority, a Rural
and Renewable Energy Agency, or a transmission
concessionaire for a proposed high voltage transmission
corridors, but shall not be used to directly fund the
establishment of such entities.
SEC. 6. REPORT.
Not less than once at the end of each of the fiscal years 2009
through 2013 for which funds to implement this Act are appropriated,
the President shall transmit to Congress a report on the implementation
of this Act, including the progress of and prospects for development in
Liberia as a result of United States assistance provided under this
Act.
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) In General.--To carry out this Act, there is authorized to be
appropriated to the President $225,000,000 for fiscal years 2009
through 2013.
(b) Sense of Congress.--Of the amounts appropriated pursuant to the
authorization of appropriations under subsection (a), it is the sense
of Congress that--
(1) 65 percent of such amounts should be allocated to carry
out Development Assistance programs authorized under section
5(a);
(2) 17.5 percent of such amounts should be allocated to
carry out Economic Support Fund Assistance programs authorized
under section 5(b), of which--
(A) 25 percent should be used to carry out section
5(b)(1);
(B) 2.5 percent should be used to carry out section
5(b)(4)(A); and
(C) 2.5 percent should be used to carry out section
5(b)(4)(B); and
(3) 17.5 percent of such amounts should be allocated to
carry out International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
Assistance programs authorized under section 5(c), of which 25
percent should be used to carry out section 5(c)(1).
(c) Availability and Related Provisions.--Amounts appropriated
pursuant to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (a)--
(1) are authorized to remain available until expended; and
(2) are in addition to amounts otherwise available for such
purposes.
SEC. 8. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER AUTHORITIES.
The authority to provide assistance in this Act shall be in
addition to any other authority to provide assistance to the Government
of Liberia.
SEC. 9. SUNSET.
The authorities provided in this Act shall expire on October 1,
2013.
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