IIB 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4653 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2014 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To reauthorize the United States Commission on 

International Religious Freedom, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Commis3 sion on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization 

4 Act of 2014’’. 

5 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 201 of 

7 the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 

8 U.S.C. 6431) is amended by inserting before the period 

9 at the end the following: ‘‘, which shall be an independent 

10 Federal Government advisory body’’. 

11 (b) SELECTION.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

12 201(b)(2) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 

13 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431(b)(2) is amended by inserting at 

14 the end the following new sentence: ‘‘The Commission as 

15 a whole shall also have expertise on the variety of faiths 

16 practiced around the world.’’. 

17 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—Subsection (b)(3) of section 201 

18 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 

19 U.S.C. 6431) is amended by striking ‘‘The appointments 

20 required by paragraph (1) shall be made not later than 

21 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.’’ 

22 and inserting the following: ‘‘An appointment required by 

23 subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) should be made within 

24 90 days of a vacancy on the Commission.’’. 


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1 (d) VACANCIES.—Subsection (g) of section 201 of the 

2 International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 

3 6431) is amended by striking the second sentence. 

4 SEC. 3. TRAINING FOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS. 

5 Subsection (a) of section 708 of the Foreign Service 

6 Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028) is amended— 

7 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘and the director’’ and in9 serting ‘‘the director’’; and 

10 (B) inserting ‘‘and members of the United 

11 States Commission on International Religious 

12 Freedom,’’ after ‘‘Training Center,’’; and 

13 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘and the various’’ and in15 serting ‘‘the various’’; and 

16 (B) by inserting ‘‘, the relationship be17 tween religious freedom and security, and the 

18 role of religious freedom in United States for19 eign policy’’ after ‘‘violations of religious free20 dom’’. 

21 SEC. 4. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 204 of 

23 the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 

24 U.S.C. 6432b) is amended in the second sentence, by in25 serting ‘‘voting’’ after ‘‘nine’’. 


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1 (b) COMPENSATION.—Subsection (b) of section 204 

2 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 

3 U.S.C. 6432b) is amended by inserting ‘‘voting members 

4 of the’’ after ‘‘The’’. 

5 (c) SECURITY CLEARANCES.—Subsection (e) of sec6 tion 204 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 

7 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6432b) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following new sentence: ‘‘The Department of State is 

9 encouraged to allow Commissioners and Commission staff 

10 with the appropriate security clearance access to classified 

11 information, in order to fulfill the duties and responsibil12 ities of their positions.’’. 

13 (d) APPLICATION OF ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAWS.— 

14 Subsection (g) of section 204 of the International Reli15 gious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6432b) is amended 

16 by inserting ‘‘, including discrimination on the basis of re17 ligion’’ after ‘‘employment discrimination’’. 

18 SEC. 5. STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND DISCLOSURE. 

19 Paragraph (2) of section 208(d)(2) of the Inter20 national Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 

21 6435a(d)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing new subparagraph: 

23 ‘‘(H) Intern, fellowship, and volunteer pro24 grams that are primarily of educational benefit 

25 to the intern, fellow, or volunteer. Sponsoring 


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1 private parties may provide compensation and 

2 benefits to interns, fellows, and volunteers, pro3 vided that no conflict of interest arises. The 

4 number, duration, and funding source of any 

5 such internship, fellowship, or volunteer pro6 grams shall be described in the annual financial 

7 report required by subsection (e).’’. 

8 SEC. 6. EXTENSION AND TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY. 

9 The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (a) of section 207 (22 U.S.C. 

12 6435), by striking ‘‘2014’’ and inserting ‘‘2019’’; 

13 and 

14 (2) in section 209 (22 U.S.C. 6436), by striking 

15 ‘‘September 30, 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘September 

16 30, 2019’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 8, 2014. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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