II 

Calendar No. 283 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1271 

[Report No. 113–131] 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United States foreign 

assistance programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10, 2013 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. TESTER, Ms. WARREN, Mr. KIRK, Mr. JOHANNS, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

DECEMBER 20, 2013 

Reported by Mr. MENENDEZ, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for United 

States foreign assistance programs, 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 ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans5 parency and Accountability Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSIST2 ANCE PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 

4 evaluate the performance of United States foreign assist5 ance and its contribution to policy, strategies, projects, 

6 program goals, and priorities undertaken by the Federal 

7 Government, to foster and promote innovative programs 

8 to improve effectiveness, and to coordinate the monitoring 

9 and evaluation processes of Federal departments and 

10 agencies that administer foreign assistance. 

11 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later 

12 than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, the President shall establish guidelines regarding the 

14 establishment of measurable goals, performance metrics, 

15 and monitoring and evaluation plans that can be applied 

16 with reasonable consistency to United States foreign as17 sistance. Such guidelines shall be established according to 

18 best practices of monitoring and evaluation studies and 

19 analyses. 

20 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

22 under subsection (b) shall provide direction to Fed23 eral departments and agencies that administer 

24 United States foreign assistance on how to develop 

25 the complete range of activities relating to the moni26 toring of resources, the evaluation of projects, the 


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1 evaluation of program impacts, and analysis that is 

2 necessary for the identification of findings, gen3 eralizations that can be derived from those findings, 

4 and their applicability to proposed project and pro5 gram design. 

6 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 

7 shall provide direction on how to achieve the fol8 lowing objectives for monitoring and evaluation pro9 grams: 

10 (A) Building measurable goals, perform11 ance metrics and monitoring and evaluation 

12 into program design, to be tracked against an 

13 established baseline at the outset, including the 

14 provision of sufficient program resources to 

15 conduct monitoring and evaluation. 

16 (B) Disseminating guidelines for the devel17 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

18 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

19 in the field, who are responsible for the design, 

20 implementation, and management of foreign as21 sistance programs. 

22 (C) Developing a clearinghouse capacity 

23 for the collection and dissemination of knowl24 edge and lessons learned that serve as bench25 marks to guide future programs for United 


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1 States development professionals, implementing 

2 partners, the international aid community, and 

3 aid recipient governments, and as a repository 

4 of knowledge on lessons learned. 

5 (D) Distributing evaluation reports inter6 nally and making this material available online 

7 to the public. Furthermore, providing a sum8 mary of each evaluation, including a description 

9 of the evaluation methodology, and key findings 

10 and recommendations made in the evaluation, 

11 to the public online in a fully searchable form 

12 within 90 days after the completion of the eval13 uation. Any material made available online pur14 suant to this subparagraph may not include any 

15 classified or proprietary information of non16 governmental organizations, contractors, or pri17 vate sector clients. 

18 (E) Establishing annual monitoring and 

19 evaluation agendas and objectives. 

20 (F) Applying rigorous monitoring and eval21 uation methodologies to focus on learning, ac22 countability, and policymaking, choosing from 

23 among a wide variety of qualitative, quan24 titative, summative, and formative methods 

25 common in the field of social scientific inquiry, 


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1 including impact evaluations, a simple grading 

2 system providing a clear evaluation of out3 comes, and analysis of project logic that in4 cludes inputs, activities, outputs, intermediate 

5 outcomes, and end outcomes. 

6 (G) Partnering with the academic commu7 nity, implementing partners, and national and 

8 international institutions that have expertise in 

9 monitoring and evaluation and analysis when 

10 such partnerships will provide needed expertise 

11 or will significantly improve the evaluation and 

12 analysis. 

13 (H) Developing and implementing a train14 ing plan for aid personnel on the proper con15 duct of monitoring and evaluation programs. 

16 (I) Providing relevant and useful evalua17 tion questions that meet the needs of decision18 makers, an appropriate and feasible design for 

19 the evaluation questions, and criteria that per20 mit objective assessment and valid conclusions 

21 on the evaluation questions. 

22 (J) Ensuring sufficient, credible, and reli23 able measures and data in the evaluation of the 

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1 cluding an assessment of assumptions and limi2 tations in such evaluations. 

3 (K) Ensuring that generally accepted 

4 standards such as independence, professional 

5 judgment, competence, and quality control and 

6 assurance are followed in the monitoring and 

7 evaluation of programs. 

8 (d) IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES.—Beginning 

9 not later than one year after the date on which the Presi10 dent establishes the guidelines under subsection (b), the 

11 head of each Federal department or agency that admin12 isters United States foreign assistance shall administer 

13 the foreign assistance in accordance with the guidelines. 

14 (e) PRESIDENTIAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 

15 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

16 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

17 committees a report that contains a detailed description 

18 of the guidelines that have been developed on measurable 

19 goals, performance metrics, and monitoring and evalua20 tion plans for United States foreign assistance programs 

21 established under this section. The report shall be sub22 mitted in unclassified form to the maximum extent pos23 sible, but may contain a classified annex. 

24 (f) IMPLEMENTATION NOT REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN

25 SECURITY SECTOR ASSISTANCE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

2 not be required to administer any United States for3 eign assistance program relating to United States 

4 security sector assistance in accordance with the 

5 guidelines established under this section if the Sec6 retary of State makes a determination that the ad7 ministration of such program in accordance with the 

8 guidelines would be detrimental to the national in9 terests of the United States. 

10 (2) BRIEFINGS OR REPORT.—The Secretary of 

11 State shall provide briefings or submit a written re12 port to the appropriate congressional committees ex13 plaining any determination made under paragraph 

14 (1). Any such report may be submitted to the appro15 priate congressional committees in classified form. 

16 (g) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.—The Comp17 troller General of the United States shall— 

18 (1) not later than one year after the date of the 

19 enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate 

20 congressional committees a report that contains an 

21 analysis of the actions that the major Federal de22 partments and agencies that administer United 

23 States foreign assistance have taken to ensure that 

24 United States foreign assistance program evaluation 

25 is planned, conducted, and utilized effectively; 


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1 (2) not later than three years after the date of 

2 the enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate 

3 congressional committees a report that contains an 

4 analysis of— 

5 (A) the guidelines established pursuant to 

6 subsection (b); and 

7 (B) the implementation of the guidelines 

8 by the major Federal departments and agencies 

9 that administer United States foreign assist10 ance; and 

11 (3) not later than 5 years after the date of the 

12 enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter for 

13 8 years, submit to the appropriate congressional 

14 committees a report that contains an analysis of the 

15 implementation of the guidelines by the major Fed16 eral departments and agencies that administer 

17 United States foreign assistance. 

18 (h) EVALUATION DEFINED.—In this section, the 

19 term ‘‘evaluation’’ means, with respect to a United States 

20 foreign assistance program, the systematic collection and 

21 analysis of information about the characteristics and out22 comes of the program and projects under the program as 

23 a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to in24 form decisions about current and future programming. 


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1 SEC. 3. INTERNET WEBSITE TO MAKE PUBLICLY AVAIL2 ABLE COMPREHENSIVE, TIMELY, COM3 PARABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION 

4 ON UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE 

5 PROGRAMS. 

6 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

7 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE.—Not later 

8 than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 

9 Act, the President shall direct the Secretary of State 

10 to revise the Department of State’s Internet website, 

11 ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, to make publicly available 

12 comprehensive, timely, comparable, and accessible 

13 information on United States foreign assistance pro14 grams. 

15 (2) INFORMATION SHARING.—The head of each 

16 Federal department or agency that administers 

17 United States foreign assistance shall, not later than 

18 two years after the date of the enactment of this 

19 Act, and every 90 days thereafter, provide to the 

20 Secretary of State information about the foreign as21 sistance programs carried out by such department or 

22 agency. 

23 (3) UPDATES TO WEBSITE.—The Secretary of 

24 State shall publish not later than 2 years after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act and update on a 

26 quarterly basis on the ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’ 


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1 website the information provided under paragraph 

2 (2). 

3 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The information described in 

5 subsection (a) shall be published on a detailed pro6 gram-by-program basis and country-by-country 

7 basis. 

8 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.—To ensure trans9 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of United 

10 States foreign assistance programs, the information 

11 described in subsection (a) shall include country as12 sistance strategies, annual budget documents, con13 gressional budget justifications, obligations, expendi14 tures, and reports and evaluations for United States 

15 foreign assistance programs and projects under such 

16 programs. Each type of information described in this 

17 paragraph shall be published or updated on the 

18 Internet website not later than 90 days after the 

19 date of issuance of the information. 

20 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 

21 (A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLE22 MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 

23 department or agency makes a determination 

24 that the inclusion of a required item of informa25 tion on the Internet website would jeopardize 


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1 the health or security of an implementing part2 ner or program beneficiary, the head of the 

3 Federal department or agency may provide 

4 briefings to the appropriate congressional com5 mittees on the item of information or submit to 

6 the appropriate congressional committees the 

7 item of information in a written report in lieu 

8 of including it on the Internet website, along 

9 with the reasons for not including it in the 

10 database required under this section. 

11 (B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED

12 STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de13 termination that the inclusion of a required 

14 item of information on the Internet website 

15 would be detrimental to the national interests 

16 of the United States, the Secretary of State 

17 shall provide briefings to the appropriate con18 gressional committees on the item of informa19 tion or submit to the appropriate congressional 

20 committees the item of information in a written 

21 report in lieu of including it on the Internet 

22 website, along with the reasons for not includ23 ing it in the database required under this sec24 tion. 


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1 (C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor2 mation provided under this paragraph may be 

3 provided in classified form. 

4 (4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If the head of the 

5 department or agency fails to comply with the re6 quirements under paragraph (2), the head shall indi7 cate for each required item— 

8 (A) identification of the reason for not in9 cluding the information during that quarter; 

10 (B) a detailed explanation of the reason; 

11 and 

12 (C) the department’s or agency’s plan and 

13 timeline for including the omitted information 

14 for the current fiscal year and the following two 

15 fiscal years, including milestones, deadlines, 

16 prerequisites, and other explanatory informa17 tion. 

18 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Internet website shall 

20 contain the information described in subsection (b) 

21 as follows: 

22 (A) For fiscal year 2013, the information 

23 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im24 mediately preceding 2 fiscal years. 


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1 (B) For fiscal year 2014, the information 

2 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im3 mediately preceding 3 fiscal years. 

4 (C) For fiscal year 2015, the information 

5 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im6 mediately preceding 4 fiscal years. 

7 (D) For fiscal year 2016, the information 

8 relating to such fiscal year and each of the im9 mediately preceding 5 fiscal years. 

10 (2) OLDER INFORMATION.—For fiscal year 

11 2017 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Internet 

12 website shall also contain a link to a searchable 

13 database available to the public containing informa14 tion described in subsection (b) relating to fiscal 

15 years prior to the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 

16 years but subsequent to fiscal year 2010. 

17 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION. 

18 It is the sense of Congress that Congress shall take 

19 into account the Comptroller General’s reports under sec20 tion 2(f)(2) when making decisions regarding the appro21 priation of funds for each department or agency that ad22 ministers United States foreign assistance. 

23 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. 

24 Up to 5 percent of the amounts authorized to be ap25 propriated for a fiscal year for each Federal department 


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1 or agency for United States foreign assistance programs 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act with 

3 respect to such programs for such fiscal year. 

4 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com8 mittees’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

10 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

11 Senate; and 

12 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

13 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

14 of Representatives. 

15 (2) UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.— 

16 The term ‘‘United States foreign assistance’’ means 

17 any tangible or intangible item provided by any 

18 agency of the United States Government to a foreign 

19 country, including any training, service, or technical 

20 advice, any item of real, personal, or mixed property, 

21 any agricultural commodity, United States dollars, 

22 and any currencies of any foreign country which are 

23 owned by the United States Government, and in24 cludes foreign assistance provided by means of gift, 

25 loan, sale, credit, or guaranty. 


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1 (3) UNITED STATES SECURITY SECTOR ASSIST2 ANCE.—The term ‘‘United States security sector as3 sistance’’ means the policies, programs, and activi4 ties the United States Government employs to en5 gage with foreign partners in the use of force to pro6 tect both the foreign state and its citizens at home 

7 or abroad, to maintain international peace and secu8 rity, to contribute to efforts that address common 

9 security challenges, and to enforce the law and pro10 vide oversight of security institutions and forces, in11 cluding through helping foreign partners build and 

12 sustain the capacity and effectiveness of institutions 

13 to provide security, safety, and justice for their peo14 ple. 

15 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

16 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Aid Trans17 parency and Accountability Act of 2013’’. 

18 SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSIST19 ANCE PROGRAMS. 

20 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to evalu21 ate the performance of United States foreign assistance and 

22 its contribution to policy, strategies, projects, program 

23 goals, and priorities undertaken by the Federal Govern24 ment, to foster and promote innovative programs to im25 prove effectiveness, and to coordinate the monitoring and 


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1 evaluation processes of Federal departments and agencies 

2 that administer foreign assistance. 

3 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.—Not later than 

4 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 President shall establish guidelines to set measurable goals, 

6 performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans 

7 that can be applied with reasonable consistency to United 

8 States foreign assistance programs. 

9 (c) OBJECTIVES OF GUIDELINES.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The guidelines established 

11 under subsection (b) shall provide direction to Federal 

12 departments and agencies that administer United 

13 States foreign assistance on how to develop the com14 plete range of activities relating to the monitoring of 

15 resources, the evaluation of projects, the evaluation of 

16 program impacts, and analysis that is necessary for 

17 the identification of findings, generalizations that can 

18 be derived from those findings, and their applicability 

19 to proposed project and program design. 

20 (2) OBJECTIVES.—Specifically, the guidelines 

21 shall provide direction on how to achieve the following 

22 objectives for monitoring and evaluation programs: 

23 (A) Building measurable goals, performance 

24 metrics and monitoring and evaluation into pro25 gram design, to be tracked against an established 


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1 baseline at the outset, including the provision of 

2 sufficient program resources to conduct moni3 toring and evaluation. 

4 (B) Disseminating guidelines for the devel5 opment and implementation of monitoring and 

6 evaluation programs to all personnel, especially 

7 in the field, who are responsible for the design, 

8 implementation, and management of foreign as9 sistance programs. 

10 (C) Developing a clearinghouse capacity for 

11 the collection and dissemination of knowledge 

12 and lessons learned that serve as benchmarks to 

13 guide future programs for United States develop14 ment professionals, implementing partners, the 

15 international aid community, and aid recipient 

16 governments, and as a repository of knowledge 

17 on lessons learned. 

18 (D) Distributing evaluation reports inter19 nally and making this material available online 

20 to the public. Furthermore, providing a sum21 mary of each evaluation, including a description 

22 of the evaluation methodology, and key findings 

23 and recommendations made in the evaluation, to 

24 the public online in a fully searchable form with25 in 90 days after the completion of the evaluation. 


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1 Any material made available online pursuant to 

2 this subparagraph may not include any classi3 fied or proprietary information of nongovern4 mental organizations, contractors, or private sec5 tor clients. 

6 (E) Establishing annual monitoring and 

7 evaluation agendas and objectives. 

8 (F) Applying rigorous monitoring and eval9 uation methodologies to focus on learning, ac10 countability, and policymaking, choosing from 

11 among a wide variety of qualitative, quan12 titative, summative, and formative methods com13 mon in the field of social scientific inquiry, in14 cluding impact evaluations, a simple grading 

15 system providing a clear evaluation of outcomes, 

16 and analysis of project logic that includes in17 puts, activities, outputs, intermediate outcomes, 

18 and end outcomes. 

19 (G) Partnering with the academic commu20 nity, implementing partners, and national and 

21 international institutions that have expertise in 

22 monitoring and evaluation and analysis when 

23 such partnerships will provide needed expertise 

24 or will significantly improve the evaluation and 

25 analysis. 


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1 (H) Developing and implementing a train2 ing plan for aid personnel on the proper conduct 

3 of monitoring and evaluation programs. 

4 (I) Providing relevant and useful evaluation 

5 questions that meet the needs of decisionmakers, 

6 an appropriate and feasible design for the eval7 uation questions, and criteria that permit objec8 tive assessment and valid conclusions on the 

9 evaluation questions. 

10 (J) Ensuring sufficient, credible, and reli11 able measures and data in the evaluation of the 

12 effectiveness of foreign assistance programs, in13 cluding an assessment of assumptions and limi14 tations in such evaluations. 

15 (K) Ensuring that generally accepted stand16 ards such as independence, professional judg17 ment, competence, and quality control and as18 surance are followed in the monitoring and eval19 uation of programs. 

20 (d) IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES.—Beginning 

21 not later than one year after the date on which the Presi22 dent establishes the guidelines under subsection (b), the head 

23 of each Federal department or agency that administers 

24 United States foreign assistance shall administer the for25 eign assistance in accordance with the guidelines. 


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1 (e) PRESIDENTIAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 

2 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi3 dent shall submit to the appropriate congressional commit4 tees a report that contains a detailed description of the 

5 guidelines that have been developed on measurable goals, 

6 performance metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans 

7 for United States foreign assistance programs established 

8 under this section. The report shall be submitted in unclas9 sified form to the maximum extent possible, but may con10 tain a classified annex. 

11 (f) GUIDELINE REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN SECU12 RITY SECTOR ASSISTANCE.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

14 not be required to implement guidelines established 

15 under subsection (b) for certain security sector assist16 ance programs to the extent that the President is al17 ready taking steps as of the date of the enactment of 

18 this Act to implement measures with respect to secu19 rity sector assistance that are similar to those referred 

20 to in this section pursuant to guidance that the Presi21 dent has promulgated. 

22 (2) NOTIFICATION AND BRIEFING REQUIRE23 MENTS.—The Secretary of State shall provide to the 

24 appropriate congressional committees a classified or 


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1 unclassified briefing describing any such measures 

2 being implemented. 

3 (g) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.—The Comp4 troller General of the United States shall— 

5 (1) not later than one year after the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate con7 gressional committees a report that analyzes the ac8 tions taken by each Federal department and agency 

9 that administers United States foreign assistance pro10 grams to ensure that the monitoring and evaluation 

11 of such programs is planned, conducted, and utilized 

12 effectively; 

13 (2) not later than 3 years after the date of the 

14 enactment of this Act, submit to the appropriate con15 gressional committees a report that analyzes— 

16 (A) the guidelines established pursuant to 

17 subsection (b); and 

18 (B) the implementation of such guidelines 

19 by each Federal department and agency that ad20 ministers United States foreign assistance pro21 grams; and 

22 (3) not later than 5 years after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter for 8 

24 years, submit to the appropriate congressional com25 mittees a report that analyzes any revisions to the 


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1 guidelines established under subsection (b), and the 

2 implementation of such guidelines by each Federal de3 partment and agency that administers United States 

4 foreign assistance programs. 

5 (h) EVALUATION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

6 ‘‘evaluation’’ means, with respect to a United States foreign 

7 assistance program, the systematic collection and analysis 

8 of information about the characteristics and outcomes of the 

9 program and projects under the program as a basis for 

10 judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to inform decisions 

11 about current and future programming. 

12 SEC. 3. PROVISION OF PUBLIC INFORMATION ON UNITED 

13 STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. 

14 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

15 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE.—Not later 

16 than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act, the President shall direct the Secretary of State 

18 to revise the Department of State’s Internet website, 

19 ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’, to make publicly available 

20 comprehensive, timely, comparable, and accessible in21 formation on United States foreign assistance pro22 grams. 

23 (2) INFORMATION SHARING.—The head of each 

24 Federal department or agency that administers 

25 United States foreign assistance shall, not later than 


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1 two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

2 and every 120 days thereafter, provide to the Sec3 retary of State information about the foreign assist4 ance programs carried out by such department or 

5 agency. 

6 (3) UPDATES TO WEBSITE.—The Secretary of 

7 State shall publish not later than 2 years after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act and update on a 

9 semiannual basis on the ‘‘ForeignAssistance.gov’’ 

10 website the information provided under paragraph 

11 (2). 

12 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The information described in 

14 subsection (a) shall be published on a detailed pro15 gram-by-program basis and country-by-country basis. 

16 (2) TYPES OF INFORMATION.—To ensure trans17 parency, accountability, and effectiveness of United 

18 States foreign assistance programs, the information 

19 described in subsection (a) shall include country as20 sistance strategies, annual budget documents, congres21 sional budget justifications, obligations, expenditures, 

22 and reports and evaluations for United States foreign 

23 assistance programs and projects under such pro24 grams. Each type of information described in this 

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1 net website not later than 90 days after the date of 

2 issuance of the information. 

3 (3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.— 

4 (A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLE5 MENTING PARTNERS.—If the head of a Federal 

6 department or agency makes a determination 

7 that the inclusion of a required item of informa8 tion on the Internet website would jeopardize the 

9 health or security of an implementing partner or 

10 program beneficiary, the head of the Federal de11 partment or agency may provide briefings to the 

12 appropriate congressional committees on the 

13 item of information or submit to the appropriate 

14 congressional committees the item of information 

15 in a written report in lieu of including it on the 

16 Internet website, along with the reasons for not 

17 including it in the database required under this 

18 section. 

19 (B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED

20 STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a de21 termination that the inclusion of a required item 

22 of information on the Internet website would be 

23 detrimental to the national interests of the 

24 United States, the Secretary of State shall pro25 vide briefings to the appropriate congressional 


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1 committees on the item of information or submit 

2 to the appropriate congressional committees the 

3 item of information in a written report in lieu 

4 of including it on the Internet website, along 

5 with the reasons for not including it in the data6 base required under this section. 

7 (C) FORM.—Any briefing or item of infor8 mation provided under this paragraph may be 

9 provided in classified form. 

10 (4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If the head of the de11 partment or agency fails to comply with the require12 ments under paragraph (2), the head shall provide to 

13 the appropriate congressional committees a briefing 

14 indicating for each required item— 

15 (A) identification of the reason for not in16 cluding the information; 

17 (B) a detailed explanation of the reason; 

18 and 

19 (C) the department’s or agency’s plan and 

20 timeline for including the omitted information 

21 for the current fiscal year and the following two 

22 fiscal years, including milestones, deadlines, pre23 requisites, and other explanatory information. 

24 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The online publication re2 quired by subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, provide 

3 the information required by subsection (b)— 

4 (A) in each fiscal year from 2013 through 

5 2016, such information for fiscal years 2011 

6 through the current fiscal year; and 

7 (B) for fiscal year 2017 and each fiscal year 

8 thereafter, such information for the immediately 

9 preceding five fiscal years in a fully searchable 

10 form. 

11 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION. 

12 It is the sense of Congress that Congress should take 

13 into account the Comptroller General’s reports under sec14 tion 2 in making decisions regarding the appropriation of 

15 funds for each department or agency that administers 

16 United States foreign assistance. 

17 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. 

18 Up to 5 percent of the amounts authorized to be appro19 priated for a fiscal year for each Federal department or 

20 agency for United States foreign assistance programs is au21 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act with re22 spect to such programs for such fiscal year. 

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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•S 1271 RS

1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit3 tees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

5 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 Senate; and 

7 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

8 the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 

9 Representatives. 

10 (2) UNITED STATES FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.—The 

11 term ‘‘United States foreign assistance’’ means any 

12 tangible or intangible item provided by any agency of 

13 the United States Government to a foreign country, 

14 including any training, service, or technical advice, 

15 any item of real, personal, or mixed property, any 

16 agricultural commodity, United States dollars, and 

17 any currencies of any foreign country which are 

18 owned by the United States Government, and includes 

19 foreign assistance provided by means of gift, loan, 

20 sale, credit, or guaranty. 

21 (3) UNITED STATES SECURITY SECTOR ASSIST22 ANCE.—The term ‘‘United States security sector as23 sistance’’ means the policies, programs, and activities 

24 the United States Government uses to— 


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•S 1271 RS

1 (A) engage with foreign partners and help 

2 shape their policies and actions in the security 

3 sector; 

4 (B) help foreign partners build and sustain 

5 the capacity and effectiveness of legitimate insti6 tutions to provide security, safety, and justice for 

7 their people; and 

8 (C) enable foreign partners to contribute to 

9 efforts that address common security challenges. 


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tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 283 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1271 

[Report No. 113–131] 

A BILL 

To direct the President to establish guidelines for 

for other purposes. United States foreign assistance programs, and 

DECEMBER 20, 2013 

Reported with an amendment 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS