II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 451 

To establish a National Foreign Language Coordination Council. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2007 

Mr. AKAKA (for himself, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. DODD, Mr. FEINGOLD, and Mr. 

DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a National Foreign Language Coordination 

Council. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL FOREIGN LAN4 GUAGE COORDINATION COUNCIL. 

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

6 ‘‘National Foreign Language Coordination Act of 2007’’. 

7 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

8 Executive Office of the President a National Foreign Lan9 guage Coordination Council (in this section referred to as 

10 the ‘‘Council’’). 


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1 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The Council shall consist of the 

2 following members or their designees: 

3 (1) The National Language Director, who shall 

4 serve as the chairperson of the Council. 

5 (2) The Secretary of Education. 

6 (3) The Secretary of Defense. 

7 (4) The Secretary of State. 

8 (5) The Secretary of Homeland Security. 

9 (6) The Attorney General. 

10 (7) The Director of National Intelligence. 

11 (8) The Secretary of Labor. 

12 (9) The Director of the Office of Personnel 

13 Management. 

14 (10) The Director of the Office of Management 

15 and Budget. 

16 (11) The Secretary of Commerce. 

17 (12) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv18 ices. 

19 (13) The Secretary of the Treasury. 

20 (14) The Secretary of Housing and Urban De21 velopment. 

22 (15) The Secretary of Agriculture. 

23 (16) The Chairman and President of the Ex24 port-Import Bank of the United States. 


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1 (17) The heads of such other Federal agencies 

2 as the Council considers appropriate. 

3 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Council shall be 

5 charged with— 

6 (A) overseeing, coordinating, and imple7 menting the National Security Language Initia8 tive; 

9 (B) developing a national foreign language 

10 strategy, building upon the efforts of the Na11 tional Security Language Initiative, within 18 

12 months after the date of the enactment of this 

13 section, in consultation with— 

14 (i) State and local government agen15 cies; 

16 (ii) academic sector institutions; 

17 (iii) foreign language related interest 

18 groups; 

19 (iv) business associations; 

20 (v) industry; 

21 (vi) heritage associations; and 

22 (vii) other relevant stakeholders; 

23 (C) conducting a survey of the status of 

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1 pertise and agency needs for such expertise; 

2 and 

3 (D) monitoring the implementation of such 

4 strategy through— 

5 (i) application of current and recently 

6 enacted laws; and 

7 (ii) the promulgation and enforcement 

8 of rules and regulations. 

9 (2) STRATEGY CONTENT.—The strategy devel10 oped under paragraph (1) shall include— 

11 (A) recommendations for amendments to 

12 title 5, United States Code, in order to improve 

13 the ability of the Federal Government to recruit 

14 and retain individuals with foreign language 

15 proficiency and provide foreign language train16 ing for Federal employees; 

17 (B) the long term goals, anticipated effect, 

18 and needs of the National Security Language 

19 Initiative; 

20 (C) identification of crucial priorities 

21 across all sectors; 

22 (D) identification and evaluation of Fed23 eral foreign language programs and activities, 

24 including— 


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1 (i) any duplicative or overlapping pro2 grams that may impede efficiency; 

3 (ii) recommendations on coordination; 

4 (iii) program enhancements; and 

5 (iv) allocation of resources so as to 

6 maximize use of resources; 

7 (E) needed national policies and cor8 responding legislative and regulatory actions in 

9 support of, and allocation of designated re10 sources to, promising programs and initiatives 

11 at all levels (Federal, State, and local), espe12 cially in the less commonly taught languages 

13 that are seen as critical for national security 

14 and global competitiveness during the next 20 

15 to 50 years; 

16 (F) effective ways to increase public aware17 ness of the need for foreign language skills and 

18 career paths in all sectors that can employ 

19 those skills, with the objective of increasing 

20 support for foreign language study among— 

21 (i) Federal, State, and local leaders; 

22 (ii) students; 

23 (iii) parents; 

24 (iv) elementary, secondary, and post25 secondary educational institutions; and 


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1 (v) employers; 

2 (G) recommendations for incentives for re3 lated educational programs, including foreign 

4 language teacher training; 

5 (H) coordination of cross-sector efforts, in6 cluding public-private partnerships; 

7 (I) coordination initiatives to develop a 

8 strategic posture for language research and rec9 ommendations for funding for applied foreign 

10 language research into issues of national con11 cern; 

12 (J) recommendations for assistance for— 

13 (i) the development of foreign lan14 guage achievement standards; and 

15 (ii) corresponding assessments for the 

16 elementary, secondary, and postsecondary 

17 education levels, including the National As18 sessment of Educational Progress in for19 eign languages; 

20 (K) recommendations for development of— 

21 (i) language skill-level certification 

22 standards; 

23 (ii) frameworks for pre-service and 

24 professional development study for those 

25 who teach foreign language; 


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1 (iii) suggested graduation criteria for 

2 foreign language studies and appropriate 

3 non-language studies, such as— 

4 (I) international business; 

5 (II) national security; 

6 (III) public administration; 

7 (IV) health care; 

8 (V) engineering; 

9 (VI) law; 

10 (VII) journalism; and 

11 (VIII) sciences; 

12 (L) identification of and means for repli13 cating best practices at all levels and in all sec14 tors, including best practices from the inter15 national community; and 

16 (M) recommendations for overcoming bar17 riers in foreign language proficiency. 

18 (3) NATIONAL SECURITY LANGUAGE INITIA19 TIVE.—The term ‘‘National Security Language Ini20 tiative’’ means the comprehensive national plan of 

21 the President announced on January 5, 2006, and 

22 under the direction of the Secretaries of State, Edu23 cation, and Defense and the Director of National In24 telligence to expand foreign language education for 

25 national security purposes in the United States. 


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1 (e) SUBMISSION OF STRATEGY TO PRESIDENT AND

2 CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 months after the date of 

3 enactment of this section, the Council shall prepare and 

4 transmit to the President and the relevant committees of 

5 Congress the strategy required under subsection (d). 

6 (f) MEETINGS.—The Council may hold such meet7 ings, and sit and act at such times and places, as the 

8 Council considers appropriate, but shall meet in formal 

9 session at least 2 times a year. State and local government 

10 agencies and other organizations (such as academic sector 

11 institutions, foreign language-related interest groups, 

12 business associations, industry, and heritage community 

13 organizations) shall be invited, as appropriate, to public 

14 meetings of the Council at least once a year. 

15 (g) STAFF.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may— 

17 (A) appoint, without regard to the provi18 sions of title 5, United States Code, governing 

19 the competitive service, such personnel as the 

20 Director considers necessary; and 

21 (B) compensate such personnel without re22 gard to the provisions of chapter 51 and sub23 chapter III of chapter 53 of that title. 

24 (2) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.— 

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1 ment employee may be detailed to the Council with2 out reimbursement, and such detail shall be without 

3 interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege 

4 (3) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—With the 

5 approval of the Council, the Director may procure 

6 temporary and intermittent services under section 

7 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code. 

8 (4) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Council members and 

9 staff shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 

10 diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for 

11 employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 

12 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from 

13 their homes or regular places of business in the per14 formance of services for the Council. 

15 (5) SECURITY CLEARANCE.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara17 graph (B), the appropriate Federal agencies or 

18 departments shall cooperate with the Council in 

19 expeditiously providing to the Council members 

20 and staff appropriate security clearances to the 

21 extent possible pursuant to existing procedures 

22 and requirements. 

23 (B) EXCEPTION.—No person shall be pro24 vided with access to classified information 


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1 under this section without the appropriate re2 quired security clearance access. 

3 (6) COMPENSATION.—The rate of pay for any 

4 employee of the Council (including the Director) 

5 may not exceed the rate payable for level V of the 

6 Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5, 

7 United States Code. 

8 (h) POWERS.— 

9 (1) DELEGATION.—Any member or employee of 

10 the Council may, if authorized by the Council, take 

11 any action that the Council is authorized to take in 

12 this section. 

13 (2) INFORMATION.— 

14 (A) COUNCIL AUTHORITY TO SECURE.— 

15 The Council may secure directly from any Fed16 eral agency such information, consistent with 

17 Federal privacy laws, including The Family 

18 Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. 

19 1232g) and Department of Education’s General 

20 Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232(h)), 

21 the Council considers necessary to carry out its 

22 responsibilities. 

23 (B) REQUIREMENT TO FURNISH RE24 QUESTED INFORMATION.—Upon request of the 


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1 Director, the head of such agency shall furnish 

2 such information to the Council. 

3 (3) DONATIONS.—The Council may accept, use, 

4 and dispose of gifts or donations of services or prop5 erty. 

6 (4) MAIL.—The Council may use the United 

7 States mail in the same manner and under the same 

8 conditions as other Federal agencies. 

9 (i) CONFERENCES, NEWSLETTER, AND WEBSITE.— 

10 In carrying out this section, the Council— 

11 (1) may arrange Federal, regional, State, and 

12 local conferences for the purpose of developing and 

13 coordinating effective programs and activities to im14 prove foreign language education; 

15 (2) may publish a newsletter concerning Fed16 eral, State, and local programs that are effectively 

17 meeting the foreign language needs of the nation; 

18 and 

19 (3) shall create and maintain a website con20 taining information on the Council and its activities, 

21 best practices on language education, and other rel22 evant information. 

23 (j) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

24 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 days 

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1 nually thereafter, the Council shall prepare and 

2 transmit to the President and the relevant commit3 tees of Congress a report that describes— 

4 (A) the activities of the Council; 

5 (B) the efforts of the Council to improve 

6 foreign language education and training; and 

7 (C) impediments to the use of a National 

8 Foreign Language program, including any stat9 utory and regulatory restrictions. 

10 (2) RELEVANT COMMITTEES.—For purposes of 

11 paragraph (1), the relevant committees of Congress 

12 include— 

13 (A) in the House of Representatives— 

14 (i) the Committee on Appropriations; 

15 (ii) the Committee on Armed Services; 

16 (iii) the Committee on Education and 

17 Labor; 

18 (iv) the Committee on Oversight and 

19 Government Reform; 

20 (v) the Committee on Small Business; 

21 (vi) the Committee on Foreign Af22 fairs; and 

23 (vii) the Permanent Select Committee 

24 on Intelligence; 

25 (B) in the Senate— 


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1 (i) the Committee on Appropriations; 

2 (ii) the Committee on Armed Services; 

3 (iii) the Committee on Health, Edu4 cation, Labor, and Pensions; 

5 (iv) the Committee on Homeland Se6 curity and Governmental Affairs; 

7 (v) the Committee on Foreign Rela8 tions; and 

9 (vi) the Select Committee on Intel10 ligence. 

11 (k) ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL LANGUAGE DI12 RECTOR.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established a Na14 tional Language Director who shall be appointed by 

15 the President. The National Language Director shall 

16 be a nationally recognized individual with credentials 

17 and abilities across the sectors to be involved with 

18 creating and implementing long-term solutions to 

19 achieving national foreign language and cultural 

20 competency. 

21 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The National Lan22 guage Director shall— 

23 (A) develop and monitor the implementa24 tion of a national foreign language strategy, 


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1 built upon the efforts of the National Security 

2 Language Initiative, across all sectors; 

3 (B) establish formal relationships among 

4 the major stakeholders in meeting the needs of 

5 the Nation for improved capabilities in foreign 

6 languages and cultural understanding, including 

7 Federal, State, and local government agencies, 

8 academia, industry, labor, and heritage commu9 nities; and 

10 (C) coordinate and lead a public informa11 tion campaign that raises awareness of public 

12 and private sector careers requiring foreign lan13 guage skills and cultural understanding, with 

14 the objective of increasing interest in and sup15 port for the study of foreign languages among 

16 national leaders, the business community, local 

17 officials, parents, and individuals. 

18 (l) ENCOURAGEMENT OF STATE INVOLVEMENT.— 

19 (1) STATE CONTACT PERSONS.—The Council 

20 shall consult with each State to provide for the des21 ignation by each State of an individual to serve as 

22 a State contact person for the purpose of receiving 

23 and disseminating information and communications 

24 received from the Council. 


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1 (2) STATE INTERAGENCY COUNCILS AND LEAD

2 AGENCIES.—Each State is encouraged to establish a 

3 State interagency council on foreign language co4 ordination or designate a lead agency for the State 

5 for the purpose of assuming primary responsibility 

6 for coordinating and interacting with the Council 

7 and State and local government agencies as nec8 essary. 

9 (m) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—The Council 

10 shall provide to Congress such information as may be re11 quested by Congress, through reports, briefings, and other 

12 appropriate means. 

13 (n) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as necessary 

15 to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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