[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9719 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9719

  To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to modify requirements 
  regarding management of the United States Agency for International 
                  Development, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 20, 2024

  Mr. Meeks introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 
     Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to modify requirements 
  regarding management of the United States Agency for International 
                  Development, 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 ``Strengthening USAID Management 
Act''.

SEC. 2. STAFFING TO PREVENT OR RESPOND TO CRISIS.

    Section 625 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2384) 
is amended by adding after subsection (f) the following:
    ``(g) The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development is authorized to appoint and employ personnel 
in the excepted service using funds appropriated or otherwise made 
available to carry out the provisions of part I of this Act, chapter 4 
of part II of this Act, and section 509(b) of the Global Fragility Act 
of 2019 (22 U.S.C. 9808(b)) to prevent or respond to foreign crises and 
contexts with increasing instability. Such funds are authorized to be 
made available for the operating expenses and administrative costs of 
such personnel. The Administrator shall coordinate with the Director of 
the Office of Personnel Management to implement this provision.''.

SEC. 3. UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PAY RATE 
              ADJUSTMENT.

    Chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in section 5314, by inserting ``and 1 other official of 
        the Agency for International Development to be appointed by the 
        President'' after ``Deputy Administrator, Agency for 
        International Development''; and
            (2) in section 5315, by striking ``Development (6)'' and 
        inserting ``Development (5)''.

SEC. 4. PAYMENT FOR SERVICES PERFORMED ABROAD PURSUANT TO CONTRACT.

    Section 636(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2396(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(17) employing individuals or organizations, by contract, 
        for services performed abroad pursuant to this Act or title II 
        of the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 1721 et seq.), and 
        individuals employed by contract to perform such services, 
        provided that--
                    ``(A) such individuals shall not by virtue of such 
                payment be considered to be employees of the United 
                States Government for purposes of any law administered 
                by the Office of Personnel Management (except that the 
                Administrator of the United States Agency for 
                International Development may determine the 
                applicability to such individuals of section 5 of the 
                State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 
                U.S.C. 2672) regarding tort claims when such claims 
                arise in a foreign country in connection with United 
                States operations abroad and of any other law 
                administered by the Administrator concerning such 
                individuals); and
                    ``(B) such contracts are authorized to be 
                negotiated, the terms of such contracts to be 
                prescribed, and the work to be performed, where 
                necessary, without regard to such statutory provisions 
                as relate to the negotiation, making, and performance 
                of contracts and performance of work in the United 
                States.''.

SEC. 5. FOREIGN SERVICE REPORT.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
Senate a report that includes--
            (1) a description of any effort by the Administrator in the 
        3 years prior to the submission of the report to empower and 
        integrate cooperating country nationals throughout the agency, 
        including an increase in the number of--
                    (A) warranted contracting officers and agreement 
                officers who are cooperating country nationals; and
                    (B) cooperating country national advisor positions; 
                and
            (2) a breakdown of Foreign Service National fellowships in 
        the 5 years prior to the submission of the report that includes 
        anonymized information regarding--
                    (A) participant demographics;
                    (B) the assigned mission associated with each 
                fellowship;
                    (C) operating unit in which each fellowship 
                occurred; and
                    (D) duration of each fellowship.

SEC. 6. ANTI-TERRORISM CERTIFICATION.

    Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development shall initiate rulemaking procedures to require bidders for 
programs in high-risk areas to certify that they do not provide 
material support or resources to individuals or entities involved in 
terrorism.

SEC. 7. OVERSEAS PAY COMPARABILITY.

    (a) In General.--Subject to such regulations as the Secretary of 
State may prescribe, including with respect to phase-in schedule and 
treatment as basic pay, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
any eligible member may be paid a locality-based comparability payment 
(stated as a percentage) that is not more than two-thirds of the amount 
of the locality-based comparability payment (stated as a percentage) 
that would be payable to such member under section 5304 of title 5, 
United States Code, if the official duty station of such member were in 
the District of Columbia.
    (b) Limitation.--The amount of any locality-based comparability 
payment that is paid to an eligible member under this section shall be 
subject to any limitation on pay applicable to locality-based 
comparability payments under section 5304 of title 5, United States 
Code.
    (c) Eligible Member Defined.--In this section, the term ``eligible 
member'' means a member of the Foreign Service if--
            (1) such member is designated class 1 or below for purposes 
        of section 403 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 
        3963); and
            (2) the official duty station of such member is not in the 
        continental United States or a nonforeign area, as defined in 
        section 591.205 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.
    (d) Sunset.--The authority under this section shall terminate on 
the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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