[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5065 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5065

  To ensure accountability for United States taxpayers' humanitarian 
                  assistance for Palestinian refugees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 20, 2010

 Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Kirk, Mrs. 
  Bachmann, Mrs. Miller of Michigan, and Mr. Shimkus) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To ensure accountability for United States taxpayers' humanitarian 
                  assistance for Palestinian refugees.

    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 ``UNRWA Humanitarian Accountability 
Act.''

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNRWA.

    Section 301 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended by 
striking subsection (c) and inserting the following new subsection:
    ``(c)(1) Withholding.--Contributions by the United States to the 
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the 
Near East (UNRWA), to any successor or related entity, or to the 
regular budget of the United Nations for the support of UNRWA or a 
successor entity (through staff positions provided by the United 
Nations Secretariat, or otherwise), may be provided only during a 
period for which a certification described in paragraph (2) is in 
effect.
    ``(2) Certification.--A certification described in this paragraph 
is a written determination by the Secretary of State, based on all 
information available after diligent inquiry, and transmitted to the 
appropriate congressional committees along with a detailed description 
of the factual basis therefor, that--
            ``(A) no official, employee, consultant, contractor, 
        subcontractor, representative, or affiliate of UNRWA--
                    ``(i) is a member of a Foreign Terrorist 
                Organization;
                    ``(ii) has propagated, disseminated, or incited 
                anti-American, anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic rhetoric or 
                propaganda; or
                    ``(iii) has used any UNRWA resources, including 
                publications or Web sites, to propagate or disseminate 
                political materials, including political rhetoric 
                regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
            ``(B) no UNRWA school, hospital, clinic, other facility, or 
        other infrastructure or resource is being used by a Foreign 
        Terrorist Organization for operations, planning, training, 
        recruitment, fundraising, indoctrination, communications, 
        sanctuary, storage of weapons or other materials, or any other 
        purposes;
            ``(C) UNRWA is subject to comprehensive financial audits by 
        an internationally recognized third party independent auditing 
        firm and has implemented an effective system of vetting and 
        oversight to prevent the use, receipt, or diversion of any 
        UNRWA resources by any foreign terrorist organization or 
        members thereof;
            ``(D) no UNRWA-funded school or educational institution 
        uses textbooks or other educational materials that propagate or 
        disseminate anti-American, anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic 
        rhetoric, propaganda or incitement;
            ``(E) no recipient of UNRWA funds or loans is a member of a 
        Foreign Terrorist Organization; and
            ``(F) UNRWA holds no accounts or other affiliations with 
        financial institutions that the United States deems or believes 
        to be complicit in money laundering and terror financing.
    ``(3) Definition.--In this section:
            ``(A) Foreign terrorist organization.--The term `Foreign 
        Terrorist Organization' means an organization designated as a 
        Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Secretary of State in 
        accordance with section 219(a) of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)).
            ``(B) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        `appropriate congressional committees' means--
                    ``(i) the Committees on Foreign Affairs, 
                Appropriations, and Oversight and Government Reform of 
                the House; and
                    ``(ii) the Committees on Foreign Relations, 
                Appropriations, and Homeland Security and Governmental 
                Affairs of the Senate.
    ``(4) Effective Duration of Certification.--The certification 
described in paragraph (2) shall be effective for a period of 180 days 
from the date of transmission to the appropriate congressional 
committees, or until the Secretary receives information rendering that 
certification factually inaccurate, whichever is earliest. In the event 
that a certification becomes ineffective, the Secretary shall promptly 
transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a description of 
any information that precludes the renewal or continuation of the 
certification.
    ``(5) Limitation.--During a period for which a certification 
described in paragraph (2) is in effect, the United States may not 
contribute to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine 
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) or a successor entity an annual 
amount--
            ``(A) greater than the highest annual contribution to UNRWA 
        made by a member country of the League of Arab States;
            ``(B) that, as a proportion of the total UNRWA budget, 
        exceeds the proportion of the total budget for the United 
        Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) paid by the 
        United States; or
            ``(C) that exceeds 22 percent of the total budget of 
        UNRWA.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President and the Secretary of State should lead a 
        high-level diplomatic effort to encourage other responsible 
        nations to withhold contributions to UNRWA, to any successor or 
        related entity, or to the regular budget of the United Nations 
        for the support of UNRWA or a successor entity (through staff 
        positions provided by the United Nations Secretariat, or 
        otherwise) until UNRWA has met the conditions listed in 
        subparagraphs (A) through (F) of section 301(c)(2) of the 
        Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (as added by section 2 of this 
        Act);
            (2) citizens of recognized states should be removed from 
        UNRWA's jurisdiction;
            (3) UNRWA's definition of a ``Palestine refugee'' should be 
        changed to that used for a refugee by the Office of the United 
        Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and
            (4) in order to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian 
        refugees, responsibility for those refugees should be fully 
        transferred to the Office of the United Nations High 
        Commissioner for Refugees.
                                 <all>