II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1274 

To direct the President to establish an interagency mechanism to coordinate 

United States development programs and private sector investment activities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 25, 2017 

Mr. ISAKSON (for himself, Mr. COONS, and Mr. PERDUE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To direct the President to establish an interagency mechanism to coordinate United States development programs 

and private sector investment activities, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Economic Growth and 

5 Development Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The promotion of sustainable economic 

2 growth is the only long-term solution to lifting peo3 ple out of poverty and addressing development chal4 lenges such as infectious disease, food security, ac5 cess to education, and access to clean water, as re6 flected in the Sustainable Development Goals adopt7 ed at the United Nations Sustainable Development 

8 Summit on September 25, 2015. 

9 (2) Several of the greatest development success 

10 stories of the past 50 years demonstrate that private 

11 sector investment and economic growth are funda12 mental to lifting populations out of poverty. 

13 (3) A dramatic shift in the composition of cap14 ital flows to the developing world necessitates a new 

15 approach to official development assistance; whereas 

16 40 years ago more than 70 percent of capital flowing 

17 to developing countries was public sector foreign as18 sistance, today over 80 percent of capital flowing to 

19 the developing world comes from the private sector. 

20 (4) In order to better leverage United States 

21 foreign assistance dollars and to promote sustainable 

22 economic development in partner countries, the 

23 United States Government must seek to promote 

24 economic growth through private sector investment 


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1 by consulting United States business during develop2 ment planning and programming processes. 

3 (5) Eleven of the 15 largest importers of 

4 United States goods and services are countries that 

5 graduated from United States foreign assistance, 

6 and 12 of the 15 fastest growing markets for United 

7 States exports are former United States foreign as8 sistance recipients. 

9 (6) With 12 departments, 26 agencies, and 

10 more than 60 Federal Government offices involved 

11 in the delivery of United States foreign assistance 

12 and the promotion of United States investment over13 seas, it is unnecessarily difficult for United States 

14 businesses to navigate this bureaucracy in search of 

15 opportunities to partner with such United States 

16 agencies. 

17 (7) Although many United States development 

18 agencies have taken steps to improve the private sec19 tor coordination capabilities of such agencies in re20 cent years, these agency-specific strategies are not 

21 integrated into a coherent interagency coordination 

22 structure to effectively engage the private sector. 

23 (8) The United States Government has no 

24 streamlined, interagency mechanism for coordination 

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1 ment or promotion of opportunities for investment, 

2 nor are the activities of the United States Govern3 ment in this area guided by a coherent set of stra4 tegic objectives, targets, or operating principles. 

5 (9) Whether in the context of a country, sector, 

6 or global development strategy, decisions regarding 

7 program prioritization and resource allocation would 

8 benefit greatly from private sector perspectives and 

9 market data and coordination with the private sector 

10 from the outset. 

11 (10) Development programs can be designed to 

12 better attract private sector investment and to pro13 mote public-private partnerships in key development 

14 sectors. 

15 (11) The Millennium Challenge Corporation 

16 and the Partnership for Growth both analyze con17 straints on growth as part of the planning processes 

18 of these organizations, but these analyses need to be 

19 included in agency country, sector, and global devel20 opment strategies to more effectively inform and 

21 guide the full spectrum of United States develop22 ment programs. 

23 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 

3 States Agency for International Development. 

4 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT5 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com6 mittees’’ means— 

7 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

8 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

9 Senate; and 

10 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

11 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

12 of Representatives. 

13 (3) PRIVATE SECTOR.—The term ‘‘private sec14 tor’’ means for-profit United States businesses. 

15 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

16 the Secretary of State. 

17 (5) UNITED STATES DEVELOPMENT AGEN18 CIES.—The term ‘‘United States development agen19 cies’’ means— 

20 (A) the Department of State; 

21 (B) the United States Agency for Inter22 national Development; 

23 (C) the Millennium Challenge Corporation; 

24 (D) the Overseas Private Investment Cor25 poration; 


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1 (E) the Trade and Development Agency; 

2 (F) the Inter-American Foundation; and 

3 (G) the African Development Foundation. 

4 SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 

5 The purpose of this Act is to maximize the impact 

6 of United States development programs by— 

7 (1) enhancing coordination between United 

8 States development agencies and the programs of 

9 such agencies and the private sector and the invest10 ment activities of the private sector; 

11 (2) integrating private sector input into the 

12 planning and programming processes of United 

13 States development agencies; 

14 (3) institutionalizing analyses of constraints on 

15 growth and investment throughout the planning and 

16 programming processes of United States develop17 ment agencies; 

18 (4) ensuring United States development agen19 cies are accountable for improving coordination be20 tween United States development programs and pri21 vate sector investment activities; and 

22 (5) promoting and facilitating private sector in23 vestment. 


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1 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON UNITED STATES DEVELOP2 MENT ASSISTANCE. 

3 It is the sense of Congress that— 

4 (1) United States development assistance 

5 should be pursued in a way that aims— 

6 (A) to build and strengthen civic institu7 tions; 

8 (B) to provide for public accountability; 

9 and 

10 (C) to serve as the basis for a democratic 

11 social contract between the people and their 

12 government, and as a basis for graduation from 

13 assistance; 

14 (2) United States Government policies and deci15 sions should be guided by clear benchmarks for the 

16 evaluation of partner country commitment to fund17 ing development priorities, including the ‘‘investing 

18 in people’’ metric of the Millennium Challenge Cor19 poration; 

20 (3) United States Government programs should 

21 be guided by a unified strategy, ambitious targets, 

22 and a robust monitoring, evaluation, and public ac23 countability plan; 

24 (4) United States development assistance 

25 should aim to help build the capacity of partner 


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1 countries to raise and commit partner country re2 sources toward development goals, including— 

3 (A) the capacity to increase revenues; 

4 (B) transparent budgeting and expendi5 tures; 

6 (C) policies and laws that increase domes7 tic investment; and 

8 (D) the ability to address the illicit flows 

9 of capital from domestic and international 

10 sources; 

11 (5) the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, reached at 

12 the Third International Conference on Financing for 

13 Development, and the emphasis of the Addis Ababa 

14 Action Agenda on economic growth and the commit15 ment of greater domestic resources towards develop16 ment goals, serves as a basis for concrete actions by 

17 donors and partner countries to achieve greater ac18 countability and to foster broad-based economic 

19 growth and the establishment of prosperous, middle 

20 class-based societies; 

21 (6) domestic resource commitments and domes22 tic resource mobilization for development purposes 

23 provide a greater chance for sustainability and an 

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1 ing donors, partner countries, citizens, and the pri2 vate sector that drives economic growth; 

3 (7) the domestic resource commitments de4 scribed in paragraph (6) are opportunities to provide 

5 for greater accountability and the building of strong, 

6 just social contracts between people and their gov7 ernments, allowing governments to raise revenue, 

8 address citizen priorities, and be held accountable 

9 for results; 

10 (8) fostering domestic capacity and domestic re11 sponsibility for outcomes is the basis of true country 

12 ownership and a transition from assistance to sus13 tainability by achieving development goals; 

14 (9) public sector development finance programs, 

15 which mobilize private capital to achieve develop16 ment objectives, are projected to soon overtake tradi17 tional grant-based assistance as measured by total 

18 capital investments, reflecting an increasing recogni19 tion by both donor and recipient countries of the po20 tential that development finance holds for driving in21 clusive, sustainable economic growth; 

22 (10) United States development finance pro23 grams should be used for development purposes, 

24 complement but not displace private capital, and op25 erate free of political agendas; 


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1 (11) while the United States has the ability to 

2 carry out development finance programs through the 

3 Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Devel4 opment Credit Authority of the United States Agen5 cy for International Development, and the United 

6 States Trade and Development Agency, that ability 

7 is under-appreciated as a matter of policy and un8 derutilized as a matter of development strategy; 

9 (12) the Overseas Private Investment Corpora10 tion lacks certain development finance tools, includ11 ing the ability to make limited equity investments in 

12 projects rather than issuing debt and the authority 

13 and resources to provide first-loss guarantees or 

14 technical assistance; 

15 (13) the Overseas Private Investment Corpora16 tion is also limited by uncertainty around the re17 newal of its legal authorities and would be more ef18 fective with the stability and predictability provided 

19 by a multi-year authorization and a reformulation of 

20 how the agency may use its proceeds for essential 

21 staff and overhead expenses while still returning 

22 money to the Treasury; and 

23 (14) United States development assistance 

24 should prioritize and better coordinate resources 

25 that support enhanced trade capacity and facilitate 


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1 fairer and more sustainable trade with partner coun2 tries. 

3 SEC. 6. INTERAGENCY STRATEGY AND MECHANISM TO CO4 ORDINATE UNITED STATES DEVELOPMENT 

5 PROGRAMS AND PRIVATE SECTOR INVEST6 MENT ACTIVITIES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish a 

8 primary, interagency mechanism to assist the private sec9 tor in coordinating United States development programs 

10 with private sector investment activities. 

11 (b) DUTIES.—The mechanism established under sub12 section (a) shall— 

13 (1) streamline and integrate the various private 

14 sector liaison, coordination, and investment pro15 motion functions of United States development agen16 cies; 

17 (2) facilitate the use of various development 

18 and finance tools across United States development 

19 agencies to attract greater private sector participa20 tion in development activities; and 

21 (3) establish a single point of contact for the 

22 private sector for partnership opportunities with 

23 United States development agencies. 

24 (c) ANNUAL STRATEGY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 

3 thereafter, the President shall submit to the appro4 priate congressional committees a strategy for the 

5 facilitation and coordination of private sector invest6 ments and activities for the purposes of develop7 ment. 

8 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE ANNUAL STRATEGY.— 

9 The annual strategy required under paragraph (1) 

10 shall include— 

11 (A) country, sectoral, and global targets 

12 for private sector investment facilitation and co13 ordination; 

14 (B) a description of the specific roles and 

15 responsibilities of United States Government 

16 departments and agencies involved in meeting 

17 the targets described in subparagraph (A), in18 cluding within United States missions in-coun19 try; and 

20 (C) a plan relating to monitoring, evalua21 tion, and public accountability. 


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1 SEC. 7. INTEGRATING PRIVATE SECTOR COORDINATION IN 

2 COUNTRY, SECTOR, AND GLOBAL DEVELOP3 MENT STRATEGIES. 

4 The Secretary and the Administrator shall direct 

5 their respective policy teams, including the Assistant to 

6 the Administrator for the Bureau of Policy, Planning and 

7 Learning, and country teams, to include private sector fa8 cilitation and coordination in all country, sector, and glob9 al development strategies, including integrated country 

10 strategies, regional and functional strategies, country de11 velopment cooperation strategies, mission strategic re12 source plans, and global development strategies. 

13 SEC. 8. ANALYSIS OF CONSTRAINTS ON GROWTH AND IN14 VESTMENT IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES AND 

15 SECTORS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, the Administrator, 

17 and the heads of other relevant Federal agencies shall en18 sure that analyses of rigorous, current constraints on 

19 growth and investment guide all country, region, and sec20 tor economic development strategies. 

21 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The analysis re22 quired under subsection (a) shall include the identification 

23 and analysis of— 

24 (1) constraints posed by the inadequacies of 

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1 ment codes, and customs and regulatory regimes of 

2 recipient countries, as appropriate; and 

3 (2) particular economic sectors that are central 

4 to achieving economic growth, such as agriculture, 

5 transportation, energy, and financial services. 

6 (c) RESULTS.—The results of the analyses described 

7 under subsection (a) shall— 

8 (1) be incorporated into the development strate9 gies of United States development agencies; 

10 (2) be used to inform and guide resource alloca11 tions; and 

12 (3) be made available to the public, and for 

13 comment by all stakeholders, prior to finalization of 

14 development strategies. 

15 SEC. 9. REPORT. 

16 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

17 of this Act, the President shall transmit to the Committee 

18 on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee 

19 on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a re20 port that describes the specific measures that have been 

21 taken to implement this Act and the outcomes that such 

22 measures are intended to produce. 

Æ 


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