II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4849 

To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees to serve as chiefs 

of missions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 22 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 

Mr. KAINE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees 

to serve as chiefs of missions, 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 ‘‘Ambassador Oversight 

5 and Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES REQUIRED WITH RE7 SPECT TO NOMINEES. 

8 Section 304 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 

9 U.S.C. 3944) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)(4), by adding at the end 

2 the following: ‘‘Each such report shall explain the 

3 source of, and the extent to which such nominee ob4 tained knowledge of, the principal language or dia5 lect of the country, region, or institution in which 

6 the nominee has been nominated to serve as chief of 

7 mission and the manner and extent to which such 

8 nominee meets the criteria described in paragraph 

9 (1), particularly with respect to the source and ex10 tent of such individual’s knowledge and under11 standing of the history, culture, economics, politics, 

12 and interests of the people of such country, region, 

13 or institution.’’; and 

14 (2) in subsection (b)— 

15 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (i) by striking ‘‘Each’’ and inserting 

17 the following: ‘‘(A) In this paragraph— 

18 ‘‘(i) the term ‘bundled contribution’ has the 

19 meaning given such term in section 304(i)(8)(A) of 

20 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 

21 U.S.C. 30104(i)(8)(A)). 

22 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘contribution’ has the meaning 

23 given such term in section 301(8) of the Federal 

24 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 

25 30101(8)); and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘immediate family’ means— 

2 ‘‘(I) the spouse of the nominee; 

3 ‘‘(II) any child, parent, grandparent, 

4 brother, or sister of the nominee; and 

5 ‘‘(III) the spouse of any of the individuals 

6 described in subclause (II). 

7 ‘‘(B) Each’’; 

8 (ii) in subparagraph (B), as redesig9 nated, by striking ‘‘fourth calendar year’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘tenth calendar year’’; 

11 (iii) by striking ‘‘The report’’ and in12 serting the following: 

13 ‘‘(C) The report shall include the disclosure of all 

14 bundled contributions facilitated by the nominee during 

15 the period described in subparagraph (B), in accordance 

16 with section 304(i)(8) of the Federal Election Campaign 

17 Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(i)(8)), and’’; 

18 (iv) by striking ‘‘The chairman’’ and 

19 inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(D) The chairman’’; 

21 (v) in subparagraph (D), as redesig22 nated, by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘The Secretary of State shall publish each 

24 such report and each ‘Certificate of Com25 petency’ issued pursuant to subsection 


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1 (a)(4)(A) on a publicly available website of 

2 the Department of State.’’; and 

3 (vi) by striking ‘‘As used in this para4 graph’’ and all that follows; and 

5 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(3) The President shall certify to the Committee on 

7 Foreign Relations of the Senate that any contributions 

8 made by each individual nominated to be a chief of mission 

9 or members of the nominee’s immediate family, whether 

10 or not included in the report described in paragraph (2), 

11 played no role in such nomination.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL INSPECTIONS REQUIRED FOR CER13 TAIN DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS. 

14 (a) NONCAREER MEMBER OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE

15 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘noncareer member 

16 of the Foreign Service’’ means a person who, on the date 

17 on which such person is nominated to serve as a chief of 

18 mission for a diplomatic or consular post, had not served 

19 as a career member of the Foreign Service (as described 

20 in section 301(d) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 

21 U.S.C. 3941(d)). 

22 (b) INSPECTIONS REQUIRED.—The Inspector Gen23 eral of the Department of State and the Foreign Service 

24 shall annually conduct the inspections described in section 

25 209(b) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 


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1 3929(b)) with respect to not fewer than 25 percent of the 

2 diplomatic or consular posts at which the chief of mission 

3 was a noncareer member of the Foreign Service as of July 

4 1 of the most recently concluded fiscal year. The Inspector 

5 General may not inspect the same diplomatic or consular 

6 post in consecutive fiscal years unless the Secretary of 

7 State authorizes such consecutive inspections, on a case8 by-case basis. 

9 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The findings from each 

10 inspection required under subsection (b) shall be made 

11 publicly available on an internet website of the Depart12 ment of State. 

Æ 


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