I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2299 

To establish a review of United States multilateral aid. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 12, 2019 

Mr. BUCK (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish a review of United States multilateral aid. 

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 ‘‘Multilateral Aid Re5 view Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to establish a United 

8 States Multilateral Aid Review (in this Act referred to as 

9 the ‘‘Review’’) to publicly assess the value of United States 

10 Government investments in multilateral entities. 


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1 SEC. 3. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE2 FINED. 

3 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com4 mittees’’ means— 

5 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

6 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

7 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

8 Committee on Financial Services, and the Com9 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Represent10 atives. 

11 SEC. 4. OBJECTIVES. 

12 The objectives of the Review are as follows: 

13 (1) Provide a tool to guide the United States 

14 Government’s decisionmaking and prioritization with 

15 regard to funding multilateral entities and to provide 

16 a methodological basis for allocating scarce budg17 etary resources to entities that advance relevant 

18 United States foreign policy objectives. 

19 (2) Incentivize improvements in the perform20 ance of multilateral entities to achieve better out21 comes on the ground in developing, fragile, and cri22 sis-afflicted regions. 

23 (3) Protect United States taxpayer investments 

24 in foreign assistance by improving transparency with 

25 regard to the funding of multilateral entities. 


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1 SEC. 5. SCOPE. 

2 The Review shall include in its assessment multilat3 eral entities to which the United States Government con4 tributes voluntary or assessed funding, whether cash or 

5 in-kind. 

6 SEC. 6. TRIENNIAL REPORT ON REVIEW. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than twenty-one months 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 

9 three years thereafter, the United States Multilateral Aid 

10 Review Task Force established under section 7, in regular 

11 consultation with the Peer Review Group established 

12 under section 8, shall submit to the appropriate congres13 sional committees a final report on the findings of the Re14 view. The Secretary of State shall publish the report on 

15 the internet website of the Department of State within 

16 seven days of submitting the report to the appropriate 

17 congressional committees. 

18 (b) METHODOLOGY.— 

19 (1) USE OF CRITERIA.—The Task Force shall 

20 establish an analytical framework and assessment 

21 scorecard for the Review using the criteria set forth 

22 in subsection (c). 

23 (2) CONSULTATION WITH CONGRESS.—Not 

24 later than 120 days after the date of the enactment 

25 of this Act, the Task Force shall submit the method26 ology for the initial Review to the appropriate conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299

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1 gressional committees. The Task Force may not pro2 ceed with the Review until 30 days after submission 

3 of the methodology to the appropriate congressional 

4 committees, taking into consideration the views of 

5 the Chairmen and Ranking Members of each of the 

6 appropriate congressional committees. For each sub7 sequent Review, the Task Force shall consult with 

8 the Chairmen and Ranking Members of each of the 

9 appropriate congressional committees regarding any 

10 changes to the methodology. 

11 (c) ASSESSMENT CRITERIA.—The assessment score12 card shall include the following criteria: 

13 (1) RELATIONSHIP OF STATED GOALS TO AC14 TUAL RESULTS.—The extent to which the stated 

15 mission, goals, and objectives of the entity have been 

16 achieved during the review period, including— 

17 (A) an identification of the stated mission, 

18 goals, and objectives of each entity; 

19 (B) an evaluation of the major projects 

20 and programs selected for implementation by 

21 the entity in comparison with the stated mis22 sion, goals, and objectives of the entity; 

23 (C) an evaluation of whether the major 

24 projects and programs selected by the entity 

25 within the given review period were more likely 


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1 than not to further the achievement of the stat2 ed mission, goals, and objectives of the entity; 

3 (D) an evaluation of the extent to which 

4 the major selected projects and programs met 

5 their own stated implementation timelines and 

6 achieved declared results; and 

7 (E) an evaluation of whether the entity op8 timizes resources to achieve the stated mission, 

9 goals, and objectives of the entity. 

10 (2) RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT.—The extent 

11 to which management of the entity follows best man12 agement practices, including— 

13 (A) an evaluation of the ratio of manage14 ment and administrative expenses to program 

15 expenses, including an evaluation of entity re16 sources spent on nonprogrammatic expenses; 

17 (B) an evaluation of program expense 

18 growth, including a comparison of the annual 

19 growth of program expenses to the annual 

20 growth of management and administrative ex21 penses; and 

22 (C) an evaluation of whether the entity has 

23 established appropriate levels of senior manage24 ment compensation. 


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1 (3) ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY.— 

2 The extent to which the policies and procedures of 

3 the entity follow best practices of accountability and 

4 transparency, taking into consideration credible re5 porting regarding unauthorized conversion or diver6 sion of entity resources, and including— 

7 (A) an evaluation of whether the entity has 

8 established and enforced appropriate auditing 

9 procedures; 

10 (B) an evaluation of whether the entity has 

11 established and enforced appropriate rules to 

12 reduce the risk of conflicts of interest among 

13 the senior leadership of the entity; 

14 (C) an evaluation of whether the entity has 

15 established and enforced appropriate whistle16 blower policies; 

17 (D) an evaluation of whether the entity 

18 has established and maintained appropriate 

19 records retention policies and guidelines; 

20 (E) an evaluation of whether the entity has 

21 established and maintained best practices with 

22 respect to transparency and public disclosure; 

23 and 

24 (F) an evaluation of whether the entity has 

25 established and maintained best practices with 


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1 respect to disclosure of the compensation of 

2 senior leadership officials. 

3 (4) ALIGNMENT WITH UNITED STATES FOREIGN

4 POLICY OBJECTIVES.—The extent to which the poli5 cies and practices of the entity align with relevant 

6 United States foreign policy objectives, including— 

7 (A) an evaluation of the entity’s stated 

8 mission, goals, and objectives in comparison to 

9 relevant United States foreign policy objectives; 

10 (B) an evaluation of whether continued 

11 participation by the United States in the entity 

12 contributes a net benefit towards achieving rel13 evant United States foreign policy objectives, 

14 including the reasons for the conclusion; and 

15 (C) an evaluation of any divergence be16 tween the actions of the entity and relevant 

17 United States foreign policy objectives. 

18 (5) MULTILATERAL APPROACH COMPARED TO

19 BILATERAL APPROACH.—The extent to which pur20 suing relevant United States foreign policy objectives 

21 through a multilateral approach is effective and cost22 efficient compared to a bilateral approach, includ23 ing— 

24 (A) an evaluation of whether relevant 

25 United States foreign policy objectives are effecVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299

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1 tively pursued through the entity, compared to 

2 existing or potential bilateral approaches; and 

3 (B) an evaluation of whether relevant 

4 United States foreign policy objectives are pur5 sued on a cost-effective basis through the enti6 ty, compared to existing or potential bilateral 

7 approaches. 

8 (6) REDUNDANCIES AND OVERLAP.—The extent 

9 to which the mission, goals, and objectives of the en10 tity overlap with the mission, goals, and objectives of 

11 other multilateral institutions to which United 

12 States Government entities contribute voluntary or 

13 assessed funding, whether cash or in-kind, includ14 ing— 

15 (A) an identification of significant 

16 redundancies or overlap with the mission, goals, 

17 and objectives of other multilateral entities to 

18 which United States Government entities con19 tribute voluntary or assessed funding, whether 

20 cash or in-kind; and 

21 (B) a comparison of the extent to which 

22 relevant United States foreign policy objectives 

23 are effectively pursued on a cost-effective basis 

24 through each of the overlapping entities. 


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1 SEC. 7. UNITED STATES MULTILATERAL REVIEW TASK 

2 FORCE. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 

4 an interagency Multilateral Review Task Force (referred 

5 to in this Act as the ‘‘Task Force’’) to review and assess 

6 United States participation in multilateral entities identi7 fied in section 5 and to develop and transmit to the appro8 priate congressional committees the reports required 

9 under section 6. 

10 (b) LEADERSHIP.—The Task Force shall be chaired 

11 by the Secretary of State. The Secretary may delegate his 

12 or her responsibilities under this Act to an appropriate 

13 senior Senate-confirmed official. 

14 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The President may appoint to 

15 the interagency Task Force senior Senate-confirmed offi16 cials from the Department of State, the Department of 

17 the Treasury, the United States Agency for International 

18 Development, the Office of Management and Budget, and 

19 any other relevant executive branch department or agency. 

20 (d) CONSULTATION.—In the preparation of each re21 port under section 6, including the initial review of meth22 odology, the Task Force shall consult regularly with the 

23 Peer Review Group established under section 8. 


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1 SEC. 8. UNITED STATES MULTILATERAL AID REVIEW PEER 

2 REVIEW GROUP. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 

4 United States Multilateral Aid Review Peer Review Group 

5 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Peer Review Group’’). 

6 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

7 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Peer Review Group 

8 shall be composed of 8 nongovernmental volunteer 

9 members, of whom— 

10 (A) two shall be appointed by the majority 

11 leader of the Senate; 

12 (B) two shall be appointed by the minority 

13 leader of the Senate; 

14 (C) two shall be appointed by the Speaker 

15 of the House of Representatives; and 

16 (D) two shall be appointed by the minority 

17 leader of the House of Representatives. 

18 (2) APPOINTMENT CRITERIA.—The members of 

19 the Peer Review Group shall have appropriate exper20 tise and knowledge of the multilateral entities sub21 ject to the Review established by this Act. In making 

22 appointments to the Peer Review Group, potential 

23 conflicts of interest should be taken into account. 

24 (3) DATE.—The initial appointments of the 

25 members of the Peer Review Group shall be made 

26 not later than 100 days after the date of the enactVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299

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1 ment of this Act, and the terms of such appoint2 ments shall begin on that date. 

3 (4) CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN.—The Peer 

4 Review Group shall select a Chairman and Vice 

5 Chairman from among the members of the Peer Re6 view Group. 

7 (c) EXPERT ANALYSIS.—The Peer Review Group 

8 shall meet regularly with the Task Force, including re9 garding the initial review of methodology, to offer their 

10 expertise of the funding and performance of multilateral 

11 entities. 

12 (d) REVIEW OF REPORT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days be14 fore submitting each report required under section 

15 6(a), the Task Force shall transmit a draft of the 

16 report to the Peer Review Group and the appro17 priate congressional committees. 

18 (2) REVIEW.—The Peer Review Group shall re19 view the draft report submitted under paragraph (1) 

20 and provide to the Task Force and the appropriate 

21 congressional committees not later than 90 days be22 fore the submission of each report required under 

23 section 6(a) the following: 

24 (A) An analysis of the conclusions of the 

25 report. 


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1 (B) An analysis of the established meth2 odologies used to reach conclusions in the re3 port. 

4 (C) An analysis of the evidence used to 

5 reach conclusions in the report. 

6 (D) Any additional comments to improve 

7 the evaluations and analysis of the report. 

8 (e) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Peer 

10 Review Group shall be appointed for a 6-year term 

11 and may be reappointed under subsection (b)(1) for 

12 one additional term. 

13 (2) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Peer Re14 view Group— 

15 (A) shall not affect the powers of the Peer 

16 Review Group; and 

17 (B) shall be filled in the same manner as 

18 the original appointment. 

19 (f) MEETINGS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Peer Review Group 

21 shall meet at the call of the Chairman. 

22 (2) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 120 

23 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

24 Peer Review Group shall hold its first meeting. 


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1 (3) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 

2 the Peer Group shall constitute a quorum, but a 

3 lesser number of members may hold meetings. 

4 SEC. 9. TERMINATION. 

5 The authorities and requirements provided under this 

6 Act shall terminate 11 years after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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