[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 5, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4267-H4270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        FOREIGN AID TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the 
Senate amendments to 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.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendments is as follows:
  Senate amendments:

       Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
     following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Foreign Aid Transparency and 
     Accountability Act of 2016''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
     ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
       (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
       (B) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
       (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
     Representatives; and
       (D) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives.
       (2) Evaluation.--The term ``evaluation'' means, with 
     respect to a covered United States foreign 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--
       (A) making judgments and evaluations regarding the program;
       (B) improving program effectiveness; and
       (C) informing decisions about current and future 
     programming.
       (3) Covered united states foreign assistance.--The term 
     ``covered United States foreign

[[Page H4268]]

     assistance'' means assistance authorized under--
       (A) part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
     2151 et seq.), except for--
       (i) title IV of chapter 2 of such part (relating to the 
     Overseas Private Investment Corporation); and
       (ii) chapter 3 of such part (relating to International 
     Organizations and Programs);
       (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.).

     SEC. 3. GUIDELINES FOR COVERED UNITED STATES FOREIGN 
                   ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

       (a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are to--
       (1) evaluate the performance of covered United States 
     foreign assistance and its contribution to the policies, 
     strategies, projects, program goals, and priorities 
     undertaken by the Federal Government;
       (2) support and promote innovative programs to improve 
     effectiveness; and
       (3) coordinate the monitoring and evaluation processes of 
     Federal departments and agencies that administer covered 
     United States foreign 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, according to best practices of 
     monitoring and evaluation studies and analyses, for the 
     establishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, and 
     monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied with 
     reasonable consistency to covered United States foreign 
     assistance.
       (c) Objectives of Guidelines.--
       (1) In general.--The guidelines established pursuant to 
     subsection (b) shall provide direction to Federal departments 
     and agencies that administer covered United States foreign 
     assistance on--
       (A) monitoring the use of resources;
       (B) evaluating the outcomes and impacts of covered United 
     States foreign assistance projects and programs; and
       (C) applying the findings and conclusions of such 
     evaluations to proposed project and program design.
       (2) Objectives.--The guidelines established pursuant to 
     subsection (b) shall provide direction to Federal departments 
     and agencies that administer covered United States foreign 
     assistance on how to--
       (A) establish annual monitoring and evaluation objectives 
     and timetables 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, including measurable goals and performance metrics, 
     and to identify the resources necessary to conduct such 
     evaluations, which should be covered by program costs;
       (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 covered United 
     States foreign assistance programs;
       (E) establish methodologies for the collection of data, 
     including baseline data to serve 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, or conduct performance evaluations and provide a 
     justification for not conducting an impact evaluation when 
     such an evaluation is deemed inappropriate or impracticable;
       (H) develop a clearinghouse capacity for the collection, 
     dissemination, and preservation of knowledge and lessons 
     learned to guide future programs for United States foreign 
     assistance personnel, implementing partners, the donor 
     community, and aid recipient governments;
       (I) internally distribute evaluation reports;
       (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, as appropriate, 
     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, reliable, and timely data, including 
     from local beneficiaries and stakeholders, are available to 
     monitoring and evaluation personnel to permit the objective 
     evaluation of the effectiveness of covered United States 
     foreign assistance programs, including an assessment of 
     assumptions and limitations in such evaluations; and
       (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) President's Report.--Not later than 18 months after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit 
     a report to the appropriate congressional committees that 
     contains a detailed description of the guidelines established 
     pursuant to subsection (b). The report shall be submitted in 
     unclassified form, but it may contain a classified annex.
       (e) Comptroller General's Report.--The Comptroller General 
     of the United States shall, not later than 18 months after 
     the report required by subsection (d) is submitted to 
     Congress, submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
     a report that--
       (1) analyzes the guidelines established pursuant to 
     subsection (b); and
       (2) assesses the implementation of the guidelines by the 
     agencies, bureaus, and offices that implement covered United 
     States foreign assistance as outlined in the President's 
     budget request.

     SEC. 4. INFORMATION ON COVERED UNITED STATES FOREIGN 
                   ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

       (a) Publication of Information.--
       (1) Update of existing website.--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 website, 
     ``ForeignAssistance.gov'', to make publicly available 
     comprehensive, timely, and comparable information on covered 
     United States foreign assistance programs, including all 
     information required under subsection (b) that is available 
     to the Secretary of State.
       (2) Information sharing.--Not later than 2 years after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter, 
     the head of each Federal department or agency that 
     administers covered United States foreign assistance shall 
     provide the Secretary of State with comprehensive information 
     about the covered United States foreign assistance programs 
     carried out by such department or agency.
       (3) Updates to website.--Not later than 2 years after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter, 
     the Secretary of State shall publish, on the 
     ``ForeignAssistance.gov'' website or through a successor 
     online publication, the information provided under subsection 
     (b).
       (b) Matters To Be Included.--
       (1) In general.--The information described in subsection 
     (a)--
       (A) shall be published for each country on a detailed 
     basis, such as award-by-award; or
       (B) if assistance is provided on a regional level, shall be 
     published for each such region on a detailed basis, such as 
     award-by-award.
       (2) Types of information.--
       (A) In general.--To ensure the transparency, 
     accountability, and effectiveness of covered United States 
     foreign 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, and evaluations in accordance with section 
     3(c)(2)(J);
       (ii) basic descriptive summaries for covered United States 
     foreign assistance programs and awards under such programs; 
     and
       (iii) obligations and expenditures.
       (B) Publication.--Each type of information described in 
     subparagraph (A) shall be published or updated on the 
     appropriate website not later than 90 days after the date on 
     which the information is issued.
       (C) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this paragraph may be 
     construed to require a Federal department or agency that 
     administers covered United States foreign assistance to 
     provide any information that does not relate to, or is not 
     otherwise required by, the covered United States foreign 
     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.
       (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, including the 
     basis for such determination, in writing to the appropriate 
     congressional committees.
       (C) Form.--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 under paragraph (1), 
     (2), or (3) of subsection (a), 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) not to make the 
     information publicly available, the Director of the Office of 
     Management and Budget, in consultation with the head of such 
     department or agency, not later than one year after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, shall submit a consolidated 
     report to the appropriate congressional committees that 
     includes, 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

[[Page H4269]]

       (B) a description of the department's or agency's plan and 
     timeline for--
       (i) making such information publicly available; and
       (ii) ensuring that such information is made publicly 
     available in subsequent years.
       (c) Scope of Information.--The online publication required 
     under subsection (a) shall, at a minimum--
       (1) in each of the fiscal years 2016 through 2019, provide 
     the information required under subsection (b) for fiscal 
     years 2015 through the current fiscal year; and
       (2) for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter, 
     provide the information required under subsection (b) for the 
     immediately preceding 5 fiscal years in a fully searchable 
     form.
       (d) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
     the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United 
     States Agency for International Development should coordinate 
     the consolidation of processes and data collection and 
     presentation for the Department of State's website, 
     ``ForeignAssistance.gov'', and the United States Agency for 
     International Development's website, ``Explorer.USAID.gov'', 
     to the extent that is possible to maximize efficiencies, no 
     later than the end of fiscal year 2018.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous material on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 3766, the Foreign Aid Transparency 
and Accountability Act, and I would like to thank Judge Ted Poe, 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, 
for his years of dedication to this important issue.
  Effective U.S. foreign assistance can help advance the diplomatic, 
economic, and national security interests of the United States, and it 
can help support the growth of healthier, more stable societies. It can 
provide alternatives to extremism. It can combat global health threats, 
foster self-sufficiency, and open new markets to U.S. trade and 
investment. But it can also be wasted, as it has many times, and that 
is why making U.S. foreign assistance as efficient and effective as 
possible has been a central focus of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
  This is no easy task. There are more than 20 Federal departments and 
agencies delivering food aid. Too many of them do not share our 
interest in transparency, accountability, and results.
  Too often, the importance of an agency is measured by the amount of 
resources it controls and not by its positive impact. Unfortunately, 
the success of initiatives are too often measured by ``things 
delivered,'' like bed nets, instead of ``program outcomes,'' like 
malaria infections averted and lives saved. As long as our foreign aid 
agencies and organizations are allowed to operate beyond scrutiny, 
nothing will change.
  Congress needs the tools to break down these barriers to effective 
aid. We need to help U.S. foreign aid agencies and organizations 
improve coordination, identify duplication, eliminate waste, and learn 
from experience, and this bill will help.
  The Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act will establish 
tough standards for monitoring and evaluation. It will ensure that many 
Federal departments and agencies that implement these programs, all of 
them, coordinate, rather than duplicate, their efforts and then apply 
the lessons learned. And it will require these agencies to publish 
foreign assistance data on a consolidated Web site so we can better 
track investments against results.
  This bill is the result of years of consultation and collaboration 
between Congress, experts, and advocates, and I want to again thank 
Judge Poe as well as Representative Connolly for their steadfast work 
and leadership in bringing this important measure before us today. I 
also thank our ranking member, Eliot Engel of New York.
  I would urge Members to support this bill and get it to the 
President's desk without further delay.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this measure.
  I want to again thank our chairman, Ed Royce, for his leadership on 
the Foreign Affairs Committee. I want to thank my colleagues who have 
worked so hard on this bill, Mr. Poe of Texas and Mr. Connolly of 
Virginia.
  We marked up this bill in the Foreign Affairs Committee, and the 
House approved it last winter. The Senate sent it back to us with a few 
changes, and now I am pleased that we are taking a final vote on this 
measure before we send it to the President's desk.
  Mr. Speaker, I view foreign assistance as one of our most important 
foreign policy tools. Whether we are helping a community build a school 
and train teachers, helping a country improve its power grid, or making 
it easier for farmers to irrigate their fields and families to get 
clean water, foreign assistance shows the rest of the world that the 
United States is eager to be a friend and eager to be a partner. And 
partnership is good for us as well.
  Of course, foreign assistance isn't about handouts. It is about 
helping build capacity and capabilities. We want to see countries 
become vibrant and productive. We want to see societies become strong 
and prosperous. Stronger partners around the world mean better lives 
for the people in those countries and greater stability and security 
for their neighbors and regions and, of course, a greater partnership 
with the United States of America. That is important to us as well as 
to the nations we are helping.
  At its best, foreign assistance is like planting a seed, nurturing 
it, and seeing it grow into something strong and self-sufficient. If we 
are doing it right, it will give us a tremendous bang for our buck.
  Foreign policy, foreign assistance is less than 1 percent of the 
total American budget. Although people think it is 15 percent or even 
more, it is less than 1 percent. But we don't have a lot to work with 
because our foreign assistance represents that 1 percent, just a small 
sliver of the Federal budget, so we need to know that these investments 
are being put to the best use. We need to take a hard look at the 
results in order to cut away dead wood and focus on the efforts that 
are giving us the best outcomes.
  The administration has already taken tremendous steps to provide 
accountability and transparency in our foreign assistance programs. 
This bill would write many of those steps into law and build on them, 
requiring measurable goals for foreign aid and requiring strong plans 
for monitoring and evaluation.
  We need to see just what a difference our foreign assistance is 
making and get a better understanding of the way foreign assistance 
programs tie into our own national security interests, and they do. We 
have national security concerns, and foreign aid is one way of 
addressing those concerns.
  So I am glad to support this measure. I am grateful for the hard work 
of Mr. Poe, Mr. Connolly, and Chairman Royce.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I again want to thank my colleagues for 
their work on this measure, and I am pleased that we are getting near 
the finish line.
  Let me just say that, as ranking member of the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, I often hear the question: Why are we sending tax dollars 
overseas when we have our share of problems here at home?
  It is a fair question, but there are good answers.
  The United States isn't an island. Our stability and security are 
tied to those countries around the world. We see where threats emerge. 
Often they emerge in places where there is a lack of opportunity, poor 
access to education, weak justice systems, poor governance.
  When we send assistance overseas, we are not just putting cash in 
people's pockets willy-nilly. We are targeting these areas that we know 
are tied to making countries more stable. We are looking at the root 
causes of instability and helping countries overcome those challenges 
so, hopefully, they can thrive on their own.

  But we need to make sure we are using these limited dollars 
efficiently

[[Page H4270]]

and effectively. The administration has taken the groundbreaking 
measures to track and publicize the effectiveness of our foreign 
assistance programs. This bill will make those efforts stronger. It 
will help us and all the American people know exactly what our foreign 
assistance investments are paying for and that they are paying 
dividends in the long run.
  I want to again stress the partnership because it is a fair question 
to say: Well, we have pressing needs here at home. Why are we sending 
money abroad?
  We look at the instability of the world. We see terrorism. We see 
what is happening. The United States has a stake in having partners all 
around the world. The United States has a stake in making conditions 
better for people all around the world so that radicalism isn't 
appealing. People can understand that what we have to offer is just so 
much better.
  This partnership is important. This bill sustains that partnership, 
so I am glad to support the bill. I urge a ``yes'' vote.
  I thank Chairman Royce.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Smart investments and development can help support growth of 
healthier, more stable societies, open markets that can generate 
consumers of U.S. goods. It can create opportunities for people there 
and for U.S. businesses to grow. But unwise investments can have the 
exact opposite effect.
  This bill will give us the tools we need to make our foreign aid 
programs more smart and wise, and I strongly support this bill. I urge 
its adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Senate 
Amendment to the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 
2016 (H.R. 3766).
  I want to thank my friend, Judge Ted Poe of Texas, for working with 
me to introduce and advance this bill.
  I also want to thank Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel 
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee for previously marking up this 
measure in Committee and bringing it to the Floor today.
  And finally, I want to thank our colleagues in the Senate, including 
Senators Cardin, Rubio, and Leahy for working with us to strengthen the 
bill and shepherd it through the Senate.
  The Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act is a project that 
I have worked on with Judge Poe for several years now, and in December 
2015 this bill passed in the House by voice vote.
  The bill directs the President to establish monitoring and evaluation 
or M&E guidelines for the federal agencies charged with implementing 
foreign assistance programs abroad.
  The guidelines will require M&E plans as part of the project 
development process, and agencies will be encouraged to incorporate the 
findings of project evaluations and impact studies into subsequent 
foreign assistance programs.
  This feedback loop will include measurable goals, performance 
metrics, and a clearing house for lessons learned on U.S.-led aid 
projects.
  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 created in 2010 
demonstrated a promising inclination towards disclosure that we should 
hope to enshrine in 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 the federal budget is spent on foreign aid when the 
actual amount is less than 1 percent.
  I am hopeful that this bill will help foreign assistance operations 
become more focused and efficacious.
  It is time to apply a data driven approach to constructing an 
assistance operation that has the support of Congress and a well-
informed public.
  We cannot ignore the increasingly important role diplomacy and 
development play in meeting our most pressing security challenges and 
demonstrating American leadership in global affairs.
  It is an act of political malpractice that this vital part of the 
federal budget is so misunderstood and that the direct link between our 
national security and stability and prosperity abroad is so 
underappreciated.
  I urge my colleagues to join the Modernizing Foreign Assistance 
Network, the Professional Services Council, the U.S. Global Leadership 
Coalition, and several other well-regarded members of the foreign 
assistance community in supporting this bipartisan legislation and 
foster greater understanding of our vital investments abroad.
  I would like to close by thanking, once again, Judge Poe for his 
leadership on the issue of foreign aid effectiveness.
  I think his advocacy is motivated by a shared belief that our foreign 
assistance dollars have the potential to create a path to prosperity in 
the most poverty stricken areas of the world, and nurture the promise 
of democracy in the face of even the most repressive authoritarian 
regimes.
  I look forward to working with Judge Poe to ensure that those common 
goals are advanced by the implementation of this legislation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House suspend the rules 
and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill, H.R. 3766.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate amendments were concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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