[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3643 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3643

   To enhance the capacity of the United States to undertake global 
            development activities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 27 (legislative day, September 17), 2008

  Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Kerry, and Mrs. Murray) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To enhance the capacity of the United States to undertake global 
            development activities, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Increasing America's Global 
Development Capacity Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) foreign development assistance is an important foreign 
        policy tool in addition to diplomacy and defense;
            (2) development assistance is part of any comprehensive 
        United States response to regional conflicts, terrorist 
        threats, weapons proliferation, disease pandemics, and 
        persistent widespread poverty;
            (3) in 2002 and 2006, the United States National Security 
        Strategy includes global development, along with defense and 
        diplomacy, as the 3 pillars of national security;
            (4) in its early years, the United States Agency for 
        International Development (USAID) had more than 5,000 full-time 
        Foreign Service Officers;
            (5) as of 2008, USAID has slightly more than 1,000 full-
        time Foreign Service Officers;
            (6) the budget at USAID, calculated in real dollars, has 
        dropped 27 percent since 1985;
            (7) this decline in personnel and operating budgets has 
        diminished the capacity of USAID to provide development 
        assistance and implement foreign assistance programs; and
            (8) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate 
        recommended increasing the amount to be appropriated for USAID 
        operating expenses for fiscal year 2009 by $171,000,000 
        compared to the amount appropriated for such expenses for 
        fiscal year 2008.

SEC. 3. HIRING OF ADDITIONAL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS AS USAID 
              EMPLOYEES.

    (a) Initial Hirings.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of USAID shall use additional 
amounts appropriated to USAID for fiscal year 2009 compared to fiscal 
year 2008 to increase by not less than 700 the total number of full-
time Foreign Service Officers employed by USAID compared to the number 
of such officers employed by USAID on the date of the enactment of this 
Act. These officers shall be used to enhance the ability of USAID to--
            (1) carry out development activities around the world by 
        providing USAID with additional human resources and expertise 
        needed to meet important development and humanitarian needs 
        around the world;
            (2) strengthen its institutional capacity as the lead 
        development agency of the United States; and
            (3) more effectively help developing nations to become more 
        stable, healthy, democratic, prosperous, and self-sufficient.
    (b) Subsequent Hirings.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided under paragraph (2), 
        during the 2-year period beginning 1 year after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Administrator of USAID shall 
        increase by not less than 1,300 the total number of full-time 
        Foreign Service Officers over the number of such Officers at 
        the beginning of such 2-year period to carry out the activities 
        described in subsection (a), contingent upon sufficient 
        appropriations.
            (2) Reprogramming.--If the Administrator of USAID 
        determines that USAID has competing needs that are more urgent 
        than the hirings described in paragraph (1), the Administrator 
        may use amounts available for such hirings for such competing 
        needs if the Administrator submits to the Committee on 
        Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
        Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 
        describing such competing needs.
                                 <all>