I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1054

To prohibit certain foreign assistance to countries that consistently oppose

the United States position in the United Nations General Assembly.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 10, 1999

Mr. GOODLING (for himself, Mr. METCALF, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. BRADY of

Texas, and Mr. BAKER) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To prohibit certain foreign assistance to countries that consistently oppose the United States position in the United

Nations General Assembly.

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 ‘‘United Nations Voting

5 Accountability Act’’.
2

•HR 1054 IH

1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES THAT

2 CONSISTENTLY OPPOSE THE UNITED STATES

3 POSITION IN THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL

4 ASSEMBLY.

5 (a) PROHIBITION.—United States assistance may not

6 be provided to a country that consistently opposed the

7 United States position in the United Nations General As8 sembly during the most recent session of the General As9 sembly.

10 (b) CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT.—If—

11 (1) the Secretary of State determines that,

12 since the beginning of the most recent session of the

13 General Assembly, there has been a fundamental

14 change in the leadership and policies of the govern15 ment of a country to which the prohibition in sub16 section (a) applies, and

17 (2) the Secretary believes that because of that

18 change the government of that country will no

19 longer consistently oppose the United States position

20 in the General Assembly,

21 the Secretary may exempt that country from that prohibi22 tion. Any such exemption shall be effective only until sub23 mission of the next report under section 406 of the For24 eign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and

25 1991 (22 U.S.C. 2414a). The Secretary shall submit to

26 the Congress a certification of each exemption made under
3

•HR 1054 IH

1 this subsection. Such certification shall be accompanied by

2 a discussion of the basis for the Secretary’s determination

3 and belief with respect to such exemption.

4 (c) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of State

5 may waive the requirement of subsection (a) if the Sec6 retary determines and reports to the Congress that despite

7 the United Nations voting pattern of a particular country,

8 the provision of United States assistance to that country

9 is necessary to promote United States foreign policy objec10 tives.

11 (d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

12 (1) the term ‘‘consistently opposed the United

13 States position’’ means, in the case of a country,

14 that the country’s votes in the United Nations Gen15 eral Assembly coincided with the United States posi16 tion less than 25 percent of the time, using for this

17 purpose the overall percentage-of-voting coincidences

18 set forth in the annual report submitted to the Con19 gress pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Rela20 tions Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and

21 1991;

22 (2) the term ‘‘most recent session of the Gen23 eral Assembly’’ means the most recently completed

24 plenary session of the General Assembly for which

25 overall percentage-of-voting coincidences is set forth
4

•HR 1054 IH

1 in the most recent report submitted to the Congress

2 pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Relations

3 Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991; and

4 (3) the term ‘‘United States assistance’’ means

5 assistance under—

6 (A) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As7 sistance Act of 1961 (relating to the economic

8 support fund),

9 (B) chapter 5 of part II of that Act (relat10 ing to international military education and

11 training), or

12 (C) the ‘‘Foreign Military Financing Pro13 gram’’ account under section 23 of the Arms

14 Export Control Act.

15 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section takes effect

16 upon the date of the submission to the Congress of the

17 report pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Relations

18 Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991, that is

19 required to be submitted by March 31, 2000.

Æ