II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4546 

To provide for the prompt payment of United States assessed contributions 

to international organizations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. 

CANTWELL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. REED, 

and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To provide for the prompt payment of United States assessed 

contributions to international organizations, 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 ‘‘Abiding by United 

5 States Commitments Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) COVID–19 has killed United States citizens 

2 at six times the average rate of other high-income 

3 countries. 

4 (2) The United States records eight times the 

5 number of infections of other high-income countries. 

6 (3) United States citizens are barred from en7 tering dozens of countries, including allies, due to 

8 the Administration’s inability to contain the spread 

9 of COVID–19 in the United States. 

10 (4) On June 25, 2020, the Senate unanimously 

11 passed Senate Resolution 579, recognizing historic 

12 United States leadership and international achieve13 ments to address global health threats, encouraging 

14 the international community to remain committed to 

15 preventing the further spread of COVID–19, and 

16 urging the United States to participate in and sup17 port global efforts to address COVID–19. 

18 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

19 It is the sense of Congress that— 

20 (1) the United States should participate in 

21 global public-private efforts to develop, manufacture, 

22 and equitably distribute a vaccine for COVID–19, 

23 including in the COVID–19 Vaccines Global Access 

24 (COVAX) Facility, which aims to speed vaccine de25 velopment, mitigate risk, secure doses for all counVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:03 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4546.IS S4546

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1 tries, and distribute them to the most high-risk seg2 ment of each population; and 

3 (2) the suspension of United States support for 

4 the World Health Organization (WHO) and other 

5 efforts to discredit the WHO are deeply concerning 

6 and will have an adverse impact on efforts to ad7 dress the COVID–19 pandemic. 

8 SEC. 4. PAYMENT OF UNITED STATES ASSESSED CONTRIBU9 TIONS TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

12 shall use amounts appropriated or otherwise made avail13 able to the Department of State for fiscal year 2020 in 

14 any appropriations Act under the heading ‘‘Contributions 

15 to International Organizations’’ to pay the full fiscal year 

16 2020 United States assessment for each international or17 ganization funded under that heading. 

18 (b) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION.—Of the 

19 amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to the 

20 Department of State for fiscal year 2020 for ‘‘Contribu21 tions to International Organizations’’, $118,949,000 shall 

22 be made available not later than 60 days after the date 

23 of enactment of this Act for the World Health Organiza24 tion for COVID–19 response. Such funds may not be 


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1 made available for advance payment to withdraw the 

2 United States from the World Health Organization. 

Æ 


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