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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 355 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 355

   To enhance the capacity of the United States to undertake global 
            development activities, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 29, 2009

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Cardin, and 
   Mr. Dodd) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
   To enhance the capacity of the United States to undertake global 
            development activities, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Increasing America's Global 
Development Capacity Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) foreign development assistance is an important foreign 
        policy tool in addition to diplomacy and defense;
            (2) development assistance is part of any comprehensive 
        United States response to regional conflicts, terrorist 
        threats, weapons proliferation, disease pandemics, and 
        persistent widespread poverty;
            (3) in 2002 and 2006, the United States National Security 
        Strategy included global development, along with defense and 
        diplomacy, as the 3 pillars of national security;
            (4) in its early years, the United States Agency for 
        International Development (referred to in this Act as 
        ``USAID'') had more than 5,000 full-time Foreign Service 
        Officers;
            (5) in 2008, USAID had slightly more than 1,000 full-time 
        Foreign Service Officers;
            (6) the budget at USAID, calculated in real dollars, has 
        dropped 27 percent since 1985; and
            (7) this decline in personnel and operating budgets has 
        diminished the capacity of USAID to provide development 
        assistance and implement foreign assistance programs.

SEC. 3. HIRING OF ADDITIONAL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS AS USAID 
              EMPLOYEES.

    (a) Initial Hirings.--Except as provided under subsection (c), not 
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator of USAID (referred to in this section as the 
``Administrator'') shall increase by not less than 700 the total number 
of full-time Foreign Service Officers employed by USAID compared to the 
number of such officers employed by USAID on September 30, 2008. These 
officers shall be used to enhance the ability of USAID to--
            (1) carry out development activities around the world by 
        providing USAID with additional human resources and expertise 
        needed to meet important development and humanitarian needs 
        around the world;
            (2) strengthen the institutional capacity of USAID as the 
        lead development agency of the United States; and
            (3) more effectively help developing nations to become more 
        stable, healthy, democratic, prosperous, and self-sufficient.
    (b) Subsequent Hirings.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided under subsection (c), 
        during the 2-year period beginning 1 year after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall increase by not 
        less than 1,300 the total number of full-time Foreign Service 
        Officers over the number of such officers at the beginning of 
        such 2-year period to carry out the activities described in 
        subsection (a), contingent upon sufficient appropriations.
            (2) Strategy.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit a 
        strategy to Congress that includes--
                    (A) a plan to create a professional training 
                program that will provide new and current USAID 
                employees with technical, management, leadership, and 
                language skills;
                    (B) a staffing plan for the subsequent 5 years; and
                    (C) a description of further resources and 
                statutory changes necessary to implement the proposed 
                training and staffing plans.
    (c) Exception.--If the Administrator determines that USAID has 
competing needs that are more urgent than the hirings described in 
subsection (a) or (b), or finds a shortage of qualified individuals for 
such hirings, the Administrator may reduce the number of such hirings 
and use the available funds for competing needs if the Administrator 
submits a report describing such competing needs and, if applicable, 
the nature of the shortage, to--
            (1) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
            (3) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (4) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives.
                                 <all>
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