[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 119 (Thursday, September 21, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9903-S9904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LUGAR:
  S. 3925. A bill to provide certain authorities for the Secretary of 
State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and for other purposes; 
read the first time.
  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I am introducing legislation today at the 
request of the executive branch and will be seeking unanimous consent 
to request its passage as soon as possible. The Foreign Affairs 
Management Authorities Act of 2006 contains provisions requested by the 
State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors that will 
enable the two agencies to carry out their work more efficiently and 
effectively.
  Title I of this bill creates a new pay for performance system for 
Foreign Service officers with the rank of 01 and below and creates a 
uniform worldwide pay scale. The American Foreign Service Association 
supports these. I am including a letter from Anthony Holmes, the AFSA 
President.
  The Senior Foreign Service already participates in a pay for 
performance plan as mandated in previously enacted law, Section 
412(a)(2) PL108-447, Div. B. The legislation replaces ``within grade 
increases'' with a requirement that, upon the introduction of the new 
Foreign Service Schedule in April 2008, any further adjustments in pay 
are tied to individual performance rather than longevity of service. It 
directs the Secretary of State to pay to each member of the Service an 
adjustment taking into account ``individual performance, contribution 
to the mission of the Department, or both, under a rigorous performance 
management system that makes meaningful distinctions based on relative 
performance and that clearly links individual pay and performance under 
precepts prescribed by the Secretary.'' Each Secretary/head of agency 
utilizing the Foreign Service personnel system may implement this 
section in a manner most suitable to the unique circumstances of his or 
her agency. Poor performers would get no increase in pay. As with the 
Senior Foreign Service, the pay for performance planned for the Foreign 
Service would utilize multiple levels of performance distinctions. 
Performance-based adjustments normally would be made only once in any 
12-month period.
  Title I also provides a number of employee protections. It 
specifically guarantees a minimum funding pool for performance-based 
pay adjustments to ensure that, in the aggregate, employees are not 
disadvantaged by conversion to the new pay system. It authorizes 
selection boards to rank order employees for the purpose of 
recommending pay for performance salary adjustments, and requires 
agencies that use selection boards for pay for performance to follow 
the selection board rankings in allocating salary increases, except in 
special circumstances. The legislation does not impact the negotiation 
of procedures and appropriate arrangements for adversely affected 
employees with the employees' representative, the American Foreign 
Service Association, AFSA.
  Title I provides transitional authorities to the Secretary of State 
for use during the interim period before April 2008 when the new 
Foreign Service Schedule is established. It contains provisions that 
govern the conversion of employees to the new schedule and it provides 
for a one-year transition period from the current 14-step system. It 
also gives the Secretary authority to establish transitional rules that 
prevent a reduction in a member's rate of pay by reason of conversion 
to the new system, among other measures that are to be applied to 
provide for a smooth transition.
  In a long needed reform, Title I also provides uniform compensation 
for worldwide service by April 2008. It eliminates the disparity in pay 
between those serving in Washington, DC, and other domestic posts who 
receive locality pay increases and those serving overseas who do not. 
The discrepancy has skewed incentives to serve overseas and is 
inconsistent with mandatory worldwide and rotational assignment 
requirements. The Department estimates the cost of its three-stage 
transition to the new pay system to be $32 million in its 2007 budget, 
$64 million in 2008, and $32 million in 2009. The legislation provides 
for pay conversion and establishes temporary rules for the period 
leading up to April 2008 as the transition takes place.
  As Secretary Rice works to fill difficult posts around the world, 
including in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as our diplomats come 
increasingly under fire in tough places, it is common sense to 
restructure a pay system that, without reform, provides disincentives 
to serving overseas. The Foreign Service must know that our country 
stands behind them, appreciates their service, and is grateful for the 
contributions they make to the security of our country and the well-
being of our citizens.
  Title II contains a number of provisions that are contained in S.600, 
still being held on the Senate calendar. It also contains provisions 
that were requested by the executive branch subsequent to the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee's passage of S. 600. The provisions in 
Title II of this legislation are as follows:
  Section 201. Education allowances modifies current law to: 1. permit 
payment of certain fees required by overseas schools for successful 
completion of a course or grade; 2. allow for travel to the United 
States for children in kindergarten through 12th grade when schools at 
post are not adequate; 3. allow for education travel to a school 
outside the United States for children at the secondary and college 
level; 4. provide for educational travel at the graduate level for 
children who are still dependents (students older than 22 would be 
ineligible for such travel); and 5. allow the option of storing a 
child's personal effects near the school during their trip to post, 
rather than transporting the effects back and forth.
  Section 202. Fraud Prevention and Detection Account broadens the 
Secretary of State's authority to use a portion of fees collected for 
H-1B, H-2B and L-1 visas to investigate fraud in other visa categories, 
including fraud in connection with terrorist activities. Allowing an 
expanded use of the funds will assist the Department in developing a 
system that concentrates on H and L visa fraud, but will potentially 
reduce fraud among all visa classifications and increase the U.S. 
ability to disrupt terrorist travel.
  Section 203. Extension of Privileges and Immunities extends 
diplomatic privileges and immunities to the African Union Mission to 
the United States and to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy 
See, and to members of both of these missions.
  Section 204. International Litigation Fund allows the Department to 
retain awards of costs and attorneys' fees when defending against 
international claims in addition to amounts currently allowed to be 
retained when it successfully prosecutes a claim.
  Section 205. Personal Services Contracting; BBG, the legislation 
extends for one year a pilot program allowing the BBG to hire 60 U.S. 
citizens or foreign nationals on contract rather than as full-time 
government employees. Such authority gives the BBG the flexibility to 
hire, for the short or medium-term, broadcasters and on-air hosts in 
difficult languages, some with many dialects. The BBG uses the 
authority, for example, for surge capacity in Urdu and Arabic.
  Inspector General, this section also establishes a limited authority 
for the State Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to 
hire personal service contractors (PSCs) to augment its ability to 
conduct oversight of programs and operations related to Afghanistan and 
Iraq. No more than 20 PSCs may be hired at any one time and, absent 
exceptional circumstances, the contract length for each PSC may not 
exceed two years. The Inspector General anticipates a need for 
additional staff once the Special Inspector General for Iraq 
Reconstruction's (SIGIR's) portfolio is either partially or fully 
transferred to the State Department. The OIG also expects an increase 
in short-term staffing needs to

[[Page S9904]]

carry out oversight responsibilities related to Afghanistan.
  Section 206. Facilitating Service in Iraq and Afghanistan is a 
technical correction to an inadvertent drafting error in section 
1602(a) of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, 
the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006 (P.L. 109-234). 
The intent behind section 1602(a) was to provide the Secretary of State 
with additional authority to waive annuity limitations on reemployed 
Foreign Service annuitants to support U.S. efforts in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. As enacted, however, section 1602(a) has the unintended 
effect of cutting back significantly on the Secretary of State's pre-
existing authority to waive Foreign Service annuity limitations in an 
emergency involving a direct threat to life or property or other 
unusual circumstances, without regard to geographic location. This 
technical correction restores the Secretary's pre-existing authority 
and provides the intended additional authorities with respect to Iraq 
and Afghanistan.
  Section 207. Discontinuance of Duplicative or Obsolete Reports 
discontinues a number of reports that have been overtaken by events or 
contain material that is covered in other executive branch submissions 
to the Congress.
  I ask my colleagues to give favorable and speedy consideration to 
this measure.
  I ask unanimous consent that a letter be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                                  American Foreign


                                          Service Association,

                               Washington, DC, September 20, 2006.
     Hon. Richard G. Lugar,
     Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Chairman Lugar: On behalf of the 14,000 members of the 
     American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), please accept 
     out sincere appreciation for your leadership during the 109th 
     Session on a number of fronts of vital importance to our 
     members and to the United States. In particular, AFSA is 
     grateful for your determination to address the existing pay 
     disparity between Washington-based Foreign Service personnel 
     and those on assignment overseas. As you know, this pay 
     equity issue has been our highest priority for many years.
       I want you to know the great importance that AFSA attaches 
     to passing legislation this year that will make the changes 
     necessary to the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to permit a 
     unified worldwide pay schedule. We realize that there are 
     many issues that you and your colleagues are currently 
     grappling with and will try to get passed before the mid-term 
     election recess next week. Our great fear, one that we hope 
     you can help us avoid, is that our modest bill, so important 
     to our members, will be shunted aside with the 
     rationalization that it can always be taken up again later. 
     Mr. Chairman, we are afraid that your colleagues are in 
     danger of missing an exceptional, perhaps unique, opportunity 
     to resolve this pay equity issue and to guarantee a win/win 
     outcome for all concerned by creating a model pay-for-
     performance personnel system for the Foreign Service that 
     will be a shining example for the rest of the federal 
     government.
       The current inequity is profoundly unfair and undermines 
     the moral of our Country's diplomatic corps. The U.S. Foreign 
     Service must have all the tools it needs to implement our 
     diplomatic and national security priorities around the globe, 
     often under extremely challenging circumstances. One vital 
     tool our nation can provide the men and women of the Foreign 
     Service and their families is the validation of their 
     essential efforts abroad that ending this pay disparity would 
     provide. With the increasing difficulty of service overseas 
     and continuing threats against American officials abroad, 
     this measure would be the single most important morale 
     booster that the Congress could provide, Conversely, a lack 
     of immediate action on the proposed legislation would be a 
     profound disappointment to our members.
       Mr, Chairman, I know that you fully understand that Foreign 
     Service members should not be penalized for serving abroad 
     with a 17.5 percent pay cut. That simply isn't right. It is 
     our sincere hope that you can persuade Congress to act on 
     this issue now or a crucial opportunity will be lost.
       Again, thank you for your leadership. AFSA is most grateful 
     for your support and friendship.
           Sincerely,
                                                J. Anthony Holmes,
                                                        President.
                                 ______