IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 135 

Providing for the establishment of a commission in the House of 

Representatives to assist parliaments in emerging democracies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 3, 2005 

Mr. DREIER (for himself, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. HYDE, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. KIRK, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. GILLMOR) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 

Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Providing for the establishment of a commission in the House 

of Representatives to assist parliaments in emerging democracies. 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

3 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘House Democ4 racy Assistance Commission Resolution’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 The House of Representatives makes the following 

7 findings: 
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1 (1) Since its founding, the United States has 

2 championed the expansion of democracy around the 

3 world. 

4 (2) Indeed, beginning with the Continental Con5 gress and continuing through the modern Congress, 

6 representative institutions have served as a critical 

7 component through which the American people have 

8 expressed their views on policy issues and through 

9 which the power of other government branches has 

10 been balanced. 

11 (3) In his second inaugural address on January 

12 20, 2005, President George W. Bush declared: ‘‘We 

13 are led by events and common sense to one conclu14 sion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly 

15 depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The 

16 best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of 

17 freedom in all the world. . . . So it is the policy of 

18 the United States to seek and support the growth of 

19 democratic movements and institutions in every na20 tion and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending 

21 tyranny in our world.’’. 

22 (4) Strong institutions, particularly national 

23 legislatures with proper infrastructure, are essential 

24 for democracies to mature and to withstand cyclical 

25 turnover in governments. 
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1 (5) Furthermore, the parliaments of emerging 

2 democracies are commonly comprised of new legisla3 tors, citizens from many walks of life, who face the 

4 challenges of creating new democratic systems with5 out the benefit of previous legislative experience. The 

6 legislatures of these fledgling democracies often lack 

7 training, equipment, or resources to carry out their 

8 work effectively. 

9 (6) Many parliaments do not possess the nec10 essary technology, such as modern computer equip11 ment, software, or access to databases and electronic 

12 resources, to facilitate the timely flow of legislative 

13 information to lawmakers and legislative staff. 

14 (7) Parliaments in fledgling democracies also 

15 frequently lack trained staff to provide nonpartisan 

16 policy information, to draft legislation, and to advise 

17 legislators on policy matters. 

18 (8) Newly democratic parliaments may lack the 

19 resources to establish internal libraries, reference 

20 materials, and archiving capabilities for use by legis21 lators and staff. 

22 (9) From 1990 through 1996, the United 

23 States House of Representatives, in conjunction with 

24 the House Information Systems Office (later known 

25 as House Information Resources) and the Congres-
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1 sional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of 

2 Congress, provided equipment and technical assist3 ance to newly democratic parliaments in Central and 

4 Eastern European countries, including Albania, Bul5 garia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lat6 via, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, 

7 and Ukraine, in an effort to develop and strengthen 

8 those institutions. 

9 (10) This program, commonly known as the 

10 ‘‘Frost-Solomon Task Force’’, not only served the 

11 United States foreign policy goal of helping to estab12 lish democratic institutions in other countries, but 

13 also developed significant goodwill in the countries in 

14 which it was implemented. The program was de15 signed to improve the efficiency of parliaments and 

16 the professionalism of their members and staff, as 

17 well as to increase transparency and accountability. 

18 (11) A program similar to the Frost-Solomon 

19 Task Force would enable Members, officers, and 

20 staff of the House of Representatives to share their 

21 expertise and experience with their counterparts in 

22 other countries, in keeping with the declared policy 

23 of the United States to support the growth of demo24 cratic institutions, thereby undertaking what Presi-
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1 dent Bush called ‘‘the idealistic work of helping raise 

2 up free governments’’. 

3 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

4 There is established in the House of Representatives 

5 a commission to be known as the House Democracy As6 sistance Commission (hereafter in this resolution referred 

7 to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

8 SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION. 

9 (a) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT.—The Commission 

10 shall be composed of Members of the House of Represent11 atives, the number of whom shall be determined by the 

12 Speaker of the House of Representatives, in consultation 

13 with the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. 

14 Majority party members shall be appointed by the Speaker 

15 of the House of Representatives and minority party mem16 bers shall be appointed by the Minority Leader of the 

17 House of Representatives. 

18 (b) TERMS OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REP19 RESENTATIVES.—Each member of the Commission shall 

20 be appointed for a term that is concurrent with the Con21 gress in which the appointment is made. Such a member 

22 may be reappointed for one or more subsequent terms in 

23 accordance with the preceding sentence. 

24 (c) CHAIRPERSON.—The Chairperson of the Commis25 sion shall be designated by the Speaker of the House of 
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1 Representatives from among the members appointed by 

2 the Speaker of the House of Representatives under sub3 section (a). 

4 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF COMMISSION. 

5 (a) ACTIVITIES.—The Commission shall work with 

6 the parliaments of selected countries, as determined pur7 suant to subsection (b)(4), on a frequent and regular basis 

8 in order to— 

9 (1) enable Members, officers, and staff of the 

10 House of Representatives and congressional support 

11 agencies to provide expert advice to members and 

12 staff of the parliaments of selected countries; 

13 (2) enable members and staff of parliaments of 

14 selected countries to visit the House of Representa15 tives and its support agencies to learn about their 

16 operations first-hand; and 

17 (3) provide recommendations to the Adminis18 trator of the United States Agency for International 

19 Development regarding the provision of material as20 sistance, such as modern automation and office sys21 tems, information technology, and library supplies, 

22 that the Commission determines is needed by the 

23 parliament of a selected country in order to improve 

24 the efficiency and transparency of its work, and to 

25 oversee the provision of such assistance. 
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1 (b) STUDY.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to carry out the ac3 tivities described in subsection (a), the Commission 

4 shall conduct on an annual basis (or more frequently 

5 if necessary) a study on the feasibility of programs 

6 of assistance for parliaments of countries described 

7 in paragraph (2) for the purpose of strengthening 

8 the parliamentary infrastructure of such countries. 

9 The Commission shall designate those countries de10 scribed in paragraph (2) with respect to which a 

11 study will be conducted under this subsection. The 

12 study shall assess— 

13 (A) the independent and substantive role 

14 that each parliament plays, or could reasonably 

15 be expected to play, in the legislative process 

16 and government oversight; 

17 (B) the potential benefit to each par18 liament of expert advice from Members and 

19 staff of the House of Representatives in areas 

20 such as the development of research services 

21 and legislative information systems, parliamen22 tary procedure, committee operations, budget 

23 process, government oversight, and constituent 

24 services; and 
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1 (C) the need in each parliament for mate2 rial assistance, such as modern automation and 

3 office systems, information technology, and re4 search materials, in order to improve efficiency 

5 and transparency. 

6 (2) COUNTRIES DESCRIBED.—The countries re7 ferred to in paragraph (1) are countries that have 

8 established or are developing democratic parliaments 

9 which would benefit from assistance described in this 

10 resolution. 

11 (3) SENSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA12 TIVES.—It is the sense of the House of Representa13 tives that the countries described in paragraph (2) 

14 with respect to which studies will be conducted 

15 under this subsection should reflect a geographic di16 versity and over time should include countries from 

17 each of the following regions: Africa, Asia and the 

18 Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, 

19 and the Western Hemisphere. 

20 (4) SELECTED COUNTRIES.—From the coun21 tries studied, the Commission shall select one or 

22 more parliaments that it recommends should receive 

23 assistance under the provisions of this resolution, 

24 based on the criteria in paragraph (1). Assistance 

25 may be provided under the provisions of this resolu-
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1 tion to a parliament selected under this paragraph 

2 only if the parliament first expresses to the Speaker 

3 of the House of Representatives an interest to re4 ceive such assistance. 

5 (c) REPORT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 

7 30, 2005, and each September 30 thereafter until 

8 September 30, 2009, the Commission shall prepare 

9 and submit to the Speaker of the House of Rep10 resentatives, the Minority Leader of the House of 

11 Representatives, the Committee on International Re12 lations and other appropriate House committees, the 

13 Office of Interparliamentary Affairs of the House of 

14 Representatives, and the Administrator of the 

15 United States Agency for International Develop16 ment, an annual report on the following: 

17 (A) RESULTS OF STUDY.—The results of 

18 the study conducted pursuant to subsection (b). 

19 (B) COMMISSION ACTIVITIES.—In accord20 ance with the results of such study, a review of 

21 the activities of the Commission in the previous 

22 year and a proposal for the activities of the 

23 Commission in the following year, as described 

24 in subsection (a). 
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1 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

2 ‘‘other appropriate House committees’’ means the 

3 Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on 

4 House Administration, and the Committee on Rules 

5 of the House of Representatives. 

6 SEC. 6. ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RE7 LATIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall carry out 

9 the duties described in section 5 using the staff and re10 sources of the Committee on International Relations, in11 cluding the use of consultants, such as individuals with 

12 expertise in development of democratic parliaments, legis13 lative systems management, legislative research, par14 liamentary procedure, related legislative matters, and 

15 technology systems management, as appropriate. 

16 (b) PARTICIPATION OF LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EM17 PLOYEES.—At the request of the Commission, the head 

18 of any House office or congressional support agency may 

19 assist the work of the Commission by— 

20 (1) detailing personnel of that office to the staff 

21 of the Committee on International Relations; or 

22 (2) authorizing personnel of that office to par23 ticipate in activities of the Commission. 
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1 SEC. 7. TERMINATION. 

2 The Commission shall terminate on September 30, 

3 2009. 

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