[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 177 (Tuesday, December 8, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9063-H9067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FOREIGN AID TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 3766) to direct the President to establish guidelines
for United States foreign development and economic assistance programs,
and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3766
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 ``Foreign Aid Transparency and
Accountability Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT AND
ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.
(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to evaluate
the performance of United States foreign development and
economic assistance and its contribution to the policies,
strategies, projects, program goals, and priorities
undertaken by the Federal Government, to foster and promote
innovative programs to improve effectiveness, and to
coordinate the monitoring and evaluation processes of Federal
departments and agencies that administer United States
foreign development and economic assistance.
(b) Establishment of Guidelines.--Not later than 18 months
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President
shall set forth guidelines for the establishment of
measurable goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and
evaluation plans that can be applied with reasonable
consistency to United States foreign development and economic
assistance. Such guidelines shall be established according to
best practices of monitoring and evaluation studies and
analyses.
(c) Objectives of Guidelines.--
(1) In general.--The guidelines established under
subsection (b) shall provide direction to Federal departments
and agencies that administer United States foreign
development and economic assistance on monitoring the use of
resources, evaluating the outcomes and impacts of United
States foreign development and economic assistance projects
and programs, and applying the findings and conclusions of
such evaluations to proposed project and program design.
(2) Objectives.--Specifically, the guidelines established
under subsection (b) shall require Federal departments and
agencies that administer United States foreign development
and economic assistance to take the following actions:
(A) Establish annual monitoring and evaluation agendas and
objectives to plan and manage the process of monitoring,
evaluating, analyzing progress, and applying learning toward
achieving results.
(B) Develop specific project monitoring and evaluation
plans, to include measurable goals and performance metrics,
and identify the resources necessary to conduct such
evaluations, which should be covered by program costs, during
project design.
(C) Apply rigorous monitoring and evaluation methodologies
to such programs, including through the use of impact
evaluations, ex-post evaluations, or other methods as
appropriate, that clearly define program logic, inputs,
outputs, intermediate outcomes, and end outcomes.
(D) Disseminate guidelines for the development and
implementation of monitoring and evaluation programs to all
personnel, especially in the field, who are responsible for
the design, implementation, and management of United States
foreign development and economic assistance programs.
(E) Establish methodologies for the collection of data,
including baseline data to serve
[[Page H9064]]
as a reference point against which progress can be measured.
(F) Evaluate at least once in their lifetime all programs
whose dollar value equals or exceeds the median program size
for the relevant office or bureau or an equivalent
calculation to ensure the majority of program resources are
evaluated.
(G) Conduct impact evaluations on all pilot programs before
replicating wherever possible, or provide a written
justification for not conducting an impact evaluation where
such an evaluation was deemed inappropriate or impossible.
(H) Develop a clearinghouse capacity for the collection and
dissemination of knowledge and lessons learned that serve as
benchmarks to guide future programs for United States
development professionals, implementing partners, the donor
community, and aid recipient governments, and as a repository
of knowledge on lessons learned.
(I) Distribute evaluation reports internally.
(J) Publicly report each evaluation, including an executive
summary, a description of the evaluation methodology, key
findings, appropriate context (including quantitative and
qualitative data when available), and recommendations made in
the evaluation within 90 days after the completion of the
evaluation.
(K) Undertake collaborative partnerships and coordinate
efforts with the academic community, implementing partners,
and national and international institutions that have
expertise in program monitoring, evaluation, and analysis
when such partnerships provide needed expertise or
significantly improve the evaluation and analysis.
(L) Ensure verifiable, valid, credible, precise, reliable,
and timely data are available to monitoring and evaluation
personnel to permit the objective evaluation of the
effectiveness of United States foreign development and
economic assistance programs, including an assessment of
assumptions and limitations in such evaluations.
(M) Ensure that standards of professional evaluation
organizations for monitoring and evaluation efforts are
employed, including ensuring the integrity and independence
of evaluations, permitting and encouraging the exercise of
professional judgment, and providing for quality control and
assurance in the monitoring and evaluation process.
(d) Presidential Report.--Not later than 18 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
that contains a detailed description of the guidelines
established under subsection (b). The report shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but it may contain a
classified annex.
(e) Comptroller General Report.--The Comptroller General of
the United States shall, not later than 1 year after the
report required by subsection (d) is submitted to Congress,
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
that analyzes--
(1) the guidelines established pursuant to subsection (b);
and
(2) a side-by-side comparison of the President's budget
request for that fiscal year of every operational unit that
carries out United States foreign development and economic
assistance and the performance of such units during the prior
fiscal year.
SEC. 3. INFORMATION ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN DEVELOPMENT AND
ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.
(a) Publication of Information.--
(1) Update of existing web site.--Not later than 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
State shall update the Department of State's Internet Web
site, ``ForeignAssistance.gov'', to make publicly available
comprehensive, timely, and comparable information on United
States foreign development and economic assistance programs,
including all information required pursuant to subsection (b)
of this section that is then available to the Secretary of
State.
(2) Information sharing.--The head of each Federal
department or agency that administers United States foreign
development and economic assistance shall, not later than 2
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and on a
quarterly basis thereafter, provide to the Secretary of State
comprehensive information about the United States foreign
development and economic assistance programs carried out by
such department or agency.
(3) Updates to web site.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State
shall publish, through the ``ForeignAssistance.gov'' Web site
or a successor online publication, the information provided
under subsection (b) of this section and shall update such
information on a quarterly basis.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--
(1) In general.--The information described in subsection
(a) shall be published on a detailed award-by-award and
country-by-country basis unless assistance is provided on a
regional level, in which case the information shall be
published on an award-by-award and region-by-region basis.
(2) Types of information.--
(A) In general.--To ensure transparency, accountability,
and effectiveness of United States foreign development and
economic assistance programs, the information described in
subsection (a) shall include--
(i) links to all regional, country, and sector assistance
strategies, annual budget documents, congressional budget
justifications, evaluations and summaries of evaluations as
required under section 2(c)(2)(J);
(ii) basic descriptive summaries for United States foreign
development and economic assistance programs and awards under
such programs; and
(iii) obligations and expenditures under such programs.
Each type of information described in this paragraph shall be
published or updated on the Internet Web site not later than
90 days after the date of issuance of the information.
(B) Rule of construction.--Nothing in subparagraph (A)
shall be construed to require a Federal department or agency
that administers United States foreign development and
economic assistance to provide any information that does not
relate to or is not otherwise required by the United States
foreign development and economic assistance programs carried
out by such department or agency.
(3) Report in lieu of inclusion.--
(A) Health or security of implementing partners.--If the
head of a Federal department or agency, in consultation with
the Secretary of State, makes a determination that the
inclusion of a required item of information online would
jeopardize the health or security of an implementing partner
or program beneficiary or would require the release of
proprietary information of an implementing partner or program
beneficiary, the head of the Federal department or agency
shall provide such determination in writing to the
appropriate congressional committees, including the basis for
such determination and shall--
(i) provide a briefing to the appropriate congressional
committees on such information; or
(ii) submit to the appropriate congressional committees
such information in a written report.
(B) National interests of the united states.--If the
Secretary of State makes a determination that the inclusion
of a required item of information online would be detrimental
to the national interests of the United States, the Secretary
of State shall provide such determination in writing to the
appropriate congressional committees, including the basis for
such determination and shall--
(i) provide a briefing to the appropriate congressional
committees on such information; or
(ii) submit to the appropriate congressional committees the
item of information in a written report.
(C) Form.--Any briefing or item of information provided
under this paragraph may be provided in classified form, as
appropriate.
(4) Failure to comply.--If a Federal department or agency
fails to comply with the requirements of subsection (a),
paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection, or subsection (c)
with respect to providing information described in subsection
(a), and the information is not subject to a determination
under subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) of this
subsection not to make the information publically available,
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in
consultation with the head of such department or agency,
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees not
later than September 1, 2016, a consolidated report
describing, with respect to each required item of information
not made publicly available--
(A) a detailed explanation of the reason for not making
such information publicly available; and
(B) the department's or agency's plan and timeline for
immediately making such information publicly available, and
for ensuring that information is made publically available in
following years.
(c) Scope of Information.--The online publication required
by subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, provide the
information required by subsection (b)--
(1) in each fiscal year from 2016 through 2019, such
information for fiscal years 2012 through the current fiscal
year; and
(2) for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter,
such information for the immediately preceding five fiscal
years in a fully searchable form.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
(2) Evaluation.--The term ``evaluation'' means, with
respect to a United States foreign development and economic
assistance program, the systematic collection and analysis of
information about the characteristics and outcomes of the
program, including projects conducted under such program, as
a basis for making judgments and evaluations regarding the
program, to improve program effectiveness, and to inform
decisions about current and future programming.
(3) United states foreign development and economic
assistance.--The term ``United States foreign development and
economic assistance'' means assistance provided primarily for
the purposes of foreign development and economic support,
including assistance authorized under--
(A) part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.
2151 et seq.), other than--
[[Page H9065]]
(i) title IV of chapter 2 of such part (relating to the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation);
(ii) chapter 3 of such part (relating to International
Organizations and Programs); and
(iii) chapter 8 of such part (relating to International
Narcotics Control);
(B) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; relating to Economic Support
Fund);
(C) the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et
seq.); and
(D) the Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 1721 et seq.).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Poe) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Royce and the ranking member,
my cosponsor on this legislation, Mr. Connolly from Virginia, for this
legislation being brought to the House floor tonight.
The Foreign Aid Authorization Act first passed Congress in 1961. If
you mention foreign aid to many Americans, Madam Speaker, it raises
their blood pressure. Members of our communities often are concerned
about foreign aid to other countries because they are just not quite
sure where that aid is going and what that aid is accomplishing.
It is important that we, as Members of the House of Representatives,
legislatively communicate to America how America's money is being spent
in foreign countries. It is important that we are accountable and that
that money, that aid, is accountable to the taxpayers.
It may shock you, Madam Speaker--maybe it won't--but Congress has
never passed a law requiring transparency and accountability of foreign
aid. I will use a different phrase. We have never audited our foreign
aid to see if it is working and to see what it is doing so people can
see whether it is successful or not.
The American public is uninformed about how much we spend and why we
spend that money. A recent Publish What You Fund study rated half of
U.S. agencies in the ``poor'' category when it came to transparency of
aid. Transparency is important because it sheds light on where the
money is spent. It is a lot harder to steal money if everybody knows
where the money went and what it was for.
The American people have a right to know what we are doing with their
money. There are a lot of success stories, but many Americans don't
know about them. So it is important that we post that information and
that the agencies that help in foreign aid assistance post that
information on the Web so we know who is getting the money and what
they are doing with that money.
Transparency will help foreign aid. It will make it harder for bad
actors to steal that aid. It will make those who implement our programs
work more vigilantly knowing the information will also be posted
online. It will educate the American public about all the ways our
country is helping other people around the world. As I said, Madam
Speaker, there are a lot of success stories where people are better off
because America is helping them.
Transparency by itself, however, won't save all of foreign aid's
problems, but without transparency, those problems will not be solved.
We also need to evaluate our foreign aid program so we know what works.
The key portions of this bill are transparency of the aid and
evaluation of the aid: evaluate that aid to see if it is working, and
if it is working may continue to do that aid; evaluate aid--if it is
not working, then we cut it off and do something else.
We have all heard about the boondoggles of foreign aid. Big
infrastructure projects are especially prone to waste and
mismanagement. That is why it is so critically important that, as part
of this bill being implemented, licensed engineers who know how to do
these infrastructure projects are more involved with their expert input
and operational skills.
Let me give you some examples of where foreign aid has been
mismanaged. Schools are being built by Americans overseas, but some of
those schools never had a student attend them. The Special Inspector
for Iraq Reconstruction found out that at least $8 billion in American
taxpayer dollars was lost to fraud, waste, and abuse. $44 million was
spent on a residential camp to house international police trainers. The
camp included an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The problem is, swimming
pool and all, it was never used.
The $43 million natural gas station in Afghanistan was built by the
Department of Defense when it built the same kind of gas station for
$500,000 in Pakistan. Let me explain that again. American taxpayers
built a $43 million natural gas station. Besides the enormous,
outrageous cost, nobody ever used the gas station in Afghanistan.
So rigorous evaluations of our foreign aid are important because they
can tell us whether or not we are really making a lasting impact. We
have a long way to go, and the State Department really doesn't have a
system in place to keep track of the dollars spent on evaluation of
those projects.
The State Department can only tell how much it plans to spend in the
future, but as soon as it spends that money on evaluations, it has no
way of tracking where the money went. So the State Department can't
even tell how many evaluations were even done last year on the aid that
we are already spending. Even in its policy, the State Department is
moving in the wrong direction. Its new evaluation policy lowers the
amount of evaluations that must be done.
USAID has some troubling signs as well. USAID spent less money on
evaluations in 2014 than it did in 2013. To solve some of these
problems with transparency and with accountability of our foreign aid,
Representative Connolly and myself have introduced H.R. 3766, the
Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act. This bill requires the
President to issue guidelines requiring tough evaluations. And on
transparency, it codifies what is already being done and increases the
amount of information required to be posted online, including actual
expenditures and evaluations so everyone knows what we are doing and
whether it is working or not.
We need to be reporting on more foreign aid in a more understandable
way. The American people want to know where their aid is going, what it
is for, and if that aid is effective.
Transparency and accountability for our foreign aid: this is a
commonsense bill, and it doesn't cost any money, Madam Speaker.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of this measure.
First of all, I want to thank Congressman Poe and Congressman
Connolly for all their hard work on this bill. Enhancing transparency
and accountability in our foreign assistance spending is something with
which we can all agree. And it is important that we get our foreign
assistance right. Our foreign aid represents just a tiny sliver of the
Federal Government's annual budget--less than 1 percent. But if it is
put to the right use, it is an investment that pays huge dividends.
Why is that? Because when we support the construction of a water
treatment facility in an overcrowded city or train teachers in a rural
village, we are doing more than just directly helping those affected.
We are helping to bring stability and prosperity to entire communities
and populations. And when we have stronger partners around the world,
it helps enhance our own security and advance our own interests.
So, as I like to say, foreign assistance is the right thing to do for
those who are in desperate need, and it is also the smart thing to do
in terms of American foreign policy and national security. But it is
important that we are spending our limited foreign assistance dollars
efficiently and effectively.
[[Page H9066]]
The Obama administration is taking important steps to enhance the
monitoring and evaluation of our foreign assistance programs. When she
was Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was at the forefront of those
efforts.
This legislation, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability
Act, would build on the great progress already made by the
administration. It would write into law many of the steps they have
already taken, making these efforts permanent for future
administrations.
This will help ensure that our investments are as effective as
possible by requiring measurable goals and plans for monitoring and
evaluation.
Madam Speaker, this important legislating will help all of us to
better understand how our foreign assistance programs help promote
stability, prosperity, and democracy around the world, and how these
investments advance our own security interests.
I am for accountability, so I strongly support this bill. I urge my
colleagues to do the same.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Babin).
Mr. BABIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today with strong concerns over
President Obama attempting to unilaterally bypass Congress once again
and enter the United States into the so-called ``Paris Protocol'' on
global warming.
As the proud Representative of the 36th Congressional District in the
State of Texas, I can tell you that my constituents want nothing to do
with this expensive, ineffective, and unnecessary proposal.
According to the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the
Paris Protocol will reduce U.S. gross domestic product by an average of
9.1 percent, or $5 trillion per year. And consistent with this, NERA
Economic Consulting states this will cost U.S. taxpayers approximately
more than $30 billion per year.
Aside from the constitutional issues of the President bypassing the
Senate and not submitting this proposal as a treaty, and the outrageous
costs, these negotiations will not even accomplish their end goal of
substantial climate benefits.
A U.S. pledge to the U.N. is estimated to prevent only one-fiftieth
of 1 degree Celsius temperature rise over the next 85 years.
{time} 1745
Simply put, our planet will see no measurable benefit at all, but our
economy will be wrecked by this accord.
This is just another example of the terrible leadership that we have
seen from this administration and of the important role that Congress
must play in standing up and fighting back on behalf of the American
people.
Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I thought we were debating Mr. Poe's and Mr. Connolly's bill. I
didn't realize that climate change was on the agenda. Let me say that
today, Secretary Kerry met with a bunch of businesspeople and led a
meeting, and they talked about climate change because climate change is
real.
Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Connolly), a valued member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and an
author of this legislation.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Madam Speaker, I thank my dear friend from New York,
the distinguished ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, for his great leadership and for always being supportive of
all of our work.
I also want to thank my dear friend from Texas, Ted Poe. He has been
a wonderful partner and initiator of reform and of thoughtful
legislation on our committee. It has been my privilege to cosponsor a
lot of legislation with Mr. Poe to try to make things better.
Today, I rise in support of another such example, the Foreign Aid
Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015.
Madam Speaker, this bill is a project I have worked on with Judge Poe
for a number of years now. In the 112th Congress, a previous iteration
of the bill passed this body by a unanimous vote. We hope for a similar
outcome in this Congress and for quick Senate consideration and
passage.
The bill directs the President to establish monitoring and evaluation
guidelines for the 22 Federal agencies that are charged with
implementing some piece of development and economic assistance.
The guidelines will require M&E plans as part of the project
development process, and agencies will be encouraged to incorporate the
findings of evaluations and impact studies into subsequent foreign
assistance programs. This feedback loop will include measurable goals,
performance metrics, and a clearinghouse for lessons learned on U.S.-
led aid projects, something long overdue after 60-plus years of foreign
aid. Additionally, the legislation requires that the documents and
reports created under this M&E regime be made available to the public
on foreignassistance.gov.
This administration has developed an encouraging record on foreign
aid transparency. The Foreign Assistance Dashboard, which was created
in 2010, is a great example of demonstrating a promising inclination
toward disclosure that we hope to enshrine in this law. This measure
will strengthen and codify those transparency best practices to ensure
that they exist as agency policy under future administrations that
might not be as accommodating of the aid community's demand for this
information.
Aid programs that are held accountable for their performance and
results can be made more effective, and their impact on communities and
countries abroad can be more easily demonstrated. Perhaps, with more
information, we can dispel the commonly held belief that 26 percent of
our budget goes to foreign aid, when, as my friend Judge Poe pointed
out, it is actually less than 1 percent.
The U.S. foreign assistance operation does not lack passion. The men
and women who put themselves in harm's way overseas and who take their
families to remote areas of the world, often dangerous, in the interest
of helping vulnerable populations, are certainly not seeking fame,
glory, or fortune. They do it because they can envision a path to
prosperity in even the most poverty-stricken areas of the world, and
they see the promise of democracy in the face of the most repressive
and authoritarian regimes.
While our passion is well-defined, our mission and metrics are not.
Regarding our mission, I was a staffer on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee the last time Congress actually passed a foreign
aid authorization bill in 1986. The original Foreign Assistance Act of
1961, which Judge Poe cited, listed five principal goals for foreign
aid. Today, we have more than 260. Some are competing and some are
redundant.
What is our core mission today?
Until January 2014, USAID's mission statement read as follows:
``USAID accelerates human progress in developing countries by reducing
poverty, advancing democracy, building market economies, promoting
security, responding to crises, and improving quality of life. Working
with governments, institutions, and civil society, we assist
individuals to build their own futures by mobilizing the full range of
America's public and private resources through our expert presence
overseas.''
That is not a clear mission statement. I am hopeful this bill will
help us focus on the foreign assistance operations.
While I think we have some distance to travel in streamlining the
legislative construct for foreign assistance and clearly articulating
our mission, we have an opportunity today to make immense progress
toward establishing badly needed metrics for aid programs with the
passage of this bill. It is time to apply a data-driven approach to
constructing an assistance operation that has the support of both this
Congress and of a well-informed public.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Again, I particularly thank my friend, Judge Poe, for his leadership,
for his initiative, and for his vision with respect to this subject. I
know it is going to actually make U.S. foreign assistance investments
in the future a lot more effective and a lot more accountable.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his comments. A couple of
things that he mentioned are worth mentioning again, I believe.
[[Page H9067]]
This very bill that we have been working on for a long time passed
unanimously in this House of Representatives 4 years ago in December.
Why didn't it become law? Because, in the Senate's rules, one Senator
was able to block the legislation from even being voted on in the
Senate. So here we are again, 4 years later, trying to get this
legislation passed.
My friend mentioned USAID and their mission statement. Nothing in the
definition of ``assistance'' in this bill precludes USAID from
reporting on data fields that it currently reports on for the Green
Book and for OECD. So, if they are already making reports, this
legislation, to be very clear, does not prohibit them from also making
those other reports, but they will comply with the legislation in this
bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), a valued member of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee.
Mr. CICILLINE. I thank the distinguished gentleman from New York for
yielding time.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3766, the Foreign Aid
Transparency and Accountability Act.
I want to begin by recognizing my colleagues, the distinguished
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) and the distinguished gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Poe), for all of the work that they have done to get
this important bill to the floor and to thank them for working, as they
always do, in a bipartisan way on behalf of the members of our
committee.
I also thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for their
leadership on this bill and for their creating an environment on the
Foreign Affairs Committee, where we work together in a bipartisan way,
and this legislation is a product of that work.
Madam Speaker, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act
will enhance the transparency and effectiveness of U.S. foreign
assistance by requiring a framework for monitoring and evaluating
foreign development and economic programs and for publicly disclosing
the data and results.
The United States carries out a wide variety of assistance programs
overseas, and it is important that there is a clearly articulated
strategy and monitoring apparatus for our assistance. It is just as
important that the American people have access to the information about
what activities their tax dollars are funding. This is critical to
sustaining public understanding and support for our diplomatic work and
our foreign assistance.
I also want to take a moment to commend the Obama administration for
making much of this information publicly available online on their
Foreign Assistance Dashboard.
I hope that my colleagues support this legislation so that we can
continue to increase efficiency and accountability in our foreign
assistance programs. The American people deserve this, and it will make
our foreign assistance better understood and more impactful. I urge my
colleagues to support this excellent legislation.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, as I have no further requests for
time, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
In closing, let me, again, thank Chairman Royce for bringing this
bill forward and thank Representatives Poe and Connolly for their hard
work.
Our foreign assistance helps improve the lives of countless people
around the world, and it helps advance American interests and American
values. Foreign assistance deserves the continued support of Congress.
At the same time, we need to know that our foreign assistance dollars
are being put to the best use possible, that we are getting the biggest
bang for our buck. The American people expect no less when it comes to
their tax dollars, and they are right.
So let's stand up for foreign assistance and for transparency and
accountability by passing this bill. I urge a ``yes'' vote.
I congratulate Judge Poe and Mr. Connolly.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time.
I want to thank Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and, of course,
my friend, Mr. Connolly from Virginia, for their support on this bill.
Madam Speaker, the Foreign Affairs Committee is probably more
bipartisan than any committee in the House of Representatives. Almost
everything that we do and the legislation we bring to the floor, the
vast majority of Members support. Sometimes every Member supports the
legislation. This is another one of those pieces of legislation that is
good for the country and is really good for the whole world.
Transparency and evaluation is what this bill is about. As I started
out in my comments, many Americans don't know what we do with their
money. Let me just give a few examples:
Because of American aid, there are now millions of girls in other
parts of the world who are getting an education. Because of Americans
and their interest, half of the AIDS epidemic in Africa has been cut.
It has been cut in half, the epidemic of AIDS in Africa. The life
expectancy of people in Afghanistan, because of American aid, has grown
20 years. When it comes to the youth, many children throughout the
world are dying because they have dirty water. It is not clean. Because
of USAID and their help, that number has been cut in half. The children
are now living because they are getting clean water.
Those are just a few things that are being done. We should be proud
of those accomplishments.
We also want to make sure that those accomplishments and what we are
doing with American money is transparent. We want to continue to
evaluate it to see if it is working. If it is working, let's continue
it, and if it is not working, then let's do something else.
I do want to thank those involved for their support, especially the
chairman and the ranking member.
H.R. 3766 will give us the tools to make foreign aid programs
efficient and effective, two words that sometimes aren't used with
``government.'' I strongly support this legislation.
And that is just the way it is.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 3766, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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