[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2387 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2387
To require the use of long-term strategies for United States national
security, diplomacy, and foreign assistance and the full use of
performance-based budgeting for foreign assistance programs, projects,
and activities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 13, 2009
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Pence, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr.
Gallegly, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Mack, and Mr. McCaul) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the use of long-term strategies for United States national
security, diplomacy, and foreign assistance and the full use of
performance-based budgeting for foreign assistance programs, projects,
and 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 ``Strategy and Effectiveness of
Foreign Policy and Assistance Act of 2009''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Section 108 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50
U.S.C. 404a) requires that the President shall transmit to
Congress each year a comprehensive report on the national
security strategy of the United States at the same time that
the President submits the budget for the following fiscal year
under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code.
(2) The national security strategy report sets forth the
national security strategy of the United States and includes a
comprehensive description and discussion of the worldwide
interests, goals, and objectives of the United States that are
vital to the national security of the United States and also
the proposed short-term and long-term uses of the political,
economic, military, and other elements of the national power of
the United States to protect or promote United States national
security interests.
(3) The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993
(Public Law 103-62) requires United States Government
departments and agencies to set goals, measure performance,
report on their accomplishments, establish long-term strategic
goals as well as annual goals, define clear missions and
desired outcomes, measure performance as a means of gauging
progress, and utilize performance information as a basis for
decisionmaking.
(4) Under the administration of President George W. Bush
and in accordance with the Government Performance and Results
Act of 1993, all United States Government departments and
agencies were required to conduct performance-based budgeting
and planning as guided by the Office of Management and Budget's
Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), in order to ensure more
accurate assessment of program performance and to drive a
sustained focus on program results.
(5) In January 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
stated that the United States foreign assistance structure
risks incoherent policies, ineffective programs, and wasted
resources when spending is not strategically tied to
overarching United States goals.
(6) The Department of State and the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) developed a Joint
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2007-2012, which outlines
strategic goals shared by both agencies, and implemented a
joint Department of State-USAID foreign assistance budget
process starting with the fiscal year 2008 budget request.
(7) In 2008, the Department of State approved plans for new
Department of State-USAID Country Assistance Strategies that
would take a comprehensive approach by including the efforts of
all United States agencies providing foreign assistance in a
country and by including an overall strategic approach for such
foreign assistance.
(8) The Department of State and USAID have participated in
a pilot performance-reporting program launched by the Office of
Budget and Management aimed at streamlining Federal agency
reporting while retaining ongoing efforts to directly integrate
budget and performance planning and reporting.
(9) USAID seeks to apply ``performance management'' by
implementing a five-step strategic management process that
includes mission performance plans, the Department of State and
USAID Joint Strategic Plan, annual reports, a performance and
accountability report, agency policy frameworks, and bureau
strategic frameworks.
(10) In the report entitled ``Foreign Aid Reform:
Comprehensive Strategy, Interagency Coordination, and
Operational Improvements Would Bolster Current Efforts'', the
Government Accountability Office found that, until the
Department of State develops and implements a comprehensive,
integrated United States foreign assistance strategy, it will
lack assurance that programs are strategically tied to
overarching United States goals and that, by basing its annual
operational plans and Country Assistance Strategies on a
standardized program structure, the Department of State was, in
fact, attempting to tie its planning and budgeting to strategic
foreign policy objectives.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) under the direction of the President, the Secretary of
State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) should, to the maximum extent
practicable, make funding decisions on the basis of a long-term
strategy that addresses national security, diplomatic, and
foreign assistance objectives and needs of the United States;
and
(2) while steps already taken towards performance
management and budgeting by the Department of State and USAID
are commendable, there remains a need for budget requests for
the Department of State, USAID, and other foreign affairs
agencies to be more effectively integrated with national
security objectives and program evaluation and management.
SEC. 4. REPORT ON LONG-TERM STRATEGIES FOR UNITED STATES NATIONAL
SECURITY, DIPLOMACY, AND FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.
(a) Report Required.--On the date on which the President transmits
to Congress the comprehensive report on the national security strategy
of the United States under section 108 of the National Security Act of
1947 and the budget for the following fiscal year under section 1105 of
title 31, United States Code, the President shall transmit to the
Congress a comprehensive report on--
(1) the organizational structures of the Department of
State, the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), and other foreign affairs agencies; and
(2) the extent to which the organizational structures of
such departments and agencies and United States foreign
assistance programs, budget plans, personnel decisions, and
public diplomacy are related to a long-term strategy that
advances national security objectives and needs of the United
States.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required by subsection (a)
shall include the following:
(1) An outline of the Department of State's and USAID's
staffing and operation of United States embassies, consulates,
and missions abroad and staffing and operation of the
Department of State's and USAID's headquarters and other
offices in the United States and an analysis of how decisions
relating to organization, staffing, and operations relate to
and advance specific objectives of the national security
strategy of the United States.
(2) A review of the means through which cooperation is
ensured between the Department of State and USAID and the
Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Treasury, and
Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade
Representative, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and United States
intelligence agencies.
(3) An explanation of the scenarios for possible United
States responses to crisis management and long-term policy
challenges and of the processes by which the Department of
State develops such scenarios.
(4) Recommendations for improving the processes by which
the Department of State develops scenarios for possible United
States responses to crisis management and long-term policy
challenges in order to incorporate nontraditional threat
planning circumstances and input from other Federal departments
and agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
(c) Additional Matters To Be Included.--With respect to each
foreign assistance funding request of the Department of State, USAID,
and other foreign affairs agencies contained in the budget for the
following fiscal year under section 1105 of title 31, United States
Code, the report required by subsection (a) shall include the
following:
(1) The short-term and long-term justification for the
funding request.
(2) In the case of a funding request for a new program,
project, or activity or an increased funding request of an
existing program, project, or activity, a comprehensive
explanation of how and the extent to which the new or increased
funding will meet the requirements of this section.
SEC. 5. REORGANIZATION OF CERTAIN DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND USAID OFFICES
AND BUREAUS.
(a) Reorganization.--In furtherance of the objectives and
requirements of this Act, the President shall take such actions as are
necessary to integrate the offices and bureaus described in subsection
(b) into a single office in the Department of State to be known as the
Office of Long-Term Planning and Resource Management.
(b) Offices and Bureaus Described.--The offices and bureaus
described in this subsection shall include the following:
(1) The Office of Policy Planning, the Office of Resource
Management, and the Office of the Director of Foreign
Assistance of the Department of State.
(2) The Bureau of Budget/Performance/Accountability of the
United States Agency for International Development.
SEC. 6. REPORT ON PERFORMANCE-BASED BUDGETING BY THE DEPARTMENT OF
STATE, USAID, AND OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS AGENCIES.
(a) Report Required.--On the date on which the President transmits
to Congress the comprehensive report on the national security strategy
of the United States under section 108 of the National Security Act of
1947, the budget for the following fiscal year under section 1105 of
title 31, United States Code, and the report required by section 4 of
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to
the specified congressional committees a report on--
(1) uses by the Department of State, the United States
Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs
agencies of performance-based or performance management
budgeting with respect to foreign assistance programs,
projects, and activities;
(2) the relation of such performance-based or performance
management budgeting to the requirements under the Government
Performance and Results Act of 1993 and the requirements under
this Act; and
(3) recommendations for improving such performance-based or
performance management budgeting.
(b) Specified Congressional Committees.--The congressional
committees specified in subsection (a) are--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate.
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