I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4237 
To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose the 
position of the United States in the United Nations. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 3, 2017 
Mr. GOHMERT (for himself and Mr. KING of Iowa) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries 
that oppose the position of the United States in the 
United Nations. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Voting 
Accountability Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES THAT 
OPPOSE THE POSITION OF THE UNITED 
STATES IN THE UNITED NATIONS. 
(a) PROHIBITION.—United States assistance may not 
be provided to a country that opposed the position of the 
United States in the United Nations. 
(b) EXEMPTION DUE TO CHANGE
IN GOVERN-
MENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State may 
exempt a country from the prohibition described in 
subsection (a) if the Secretary determines that since 
the beginning of the most recent session of the Gen-
eral Assembly— 
(A) there has been a fundamental change 
in the leadership and policies of the government 
of a country to which the prohibition in such 
subsection applies; and 
(B) as a result of such change, the govern-
ment of such country will no longer oppose the 
position of the United States in the United Na-
tions. 
(2) DURATION OF EXEMPTION.—An exemption 
under paragraph (1) shall be effective only until sub-
mission of the next report required under section 
406 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fis-
cal Years 1990 and 1991 (22 U.S.C. 2414a) that is 
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submitted after the Secretary of State makes such 
an exemption. 
(3) NOTIFICATION AND DISCUSSION.—The Sec-
retary of State shall notify Congress with respect to 
an exemption made under paragraph (1), together 
with a discussion of the basis for the Secretary’s de-
termination with respect to each such exemption. 
(c) EXEMPTION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY INTER-
ESTS.—The President may exempt a country from the 
prohibition described in subsection (a) if the President de-
termines that such exemption is in the national security 
interests of the United States and transmits to Congress 
a written statement explaining such national security in-
terest. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘opposed the position of the 
United States’’ means, in the case of a country, that 
the country’s recorded votes in the United Nations 
General Assembly during the most recent session of 
the General Assembly and, in the case of a country 
which is a member of the United Nations Security 
Council, the country’s recorded votes both in the Se-
curity Council and the General Assembly during the 
most recent session of the General Assembly, were 
the same as the position of the United States less 
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than 50 percent of the time, using for this purpose 
a comparison of the recorded vote cast by each mem-
ber country with the recorded vote cast by the 
United States, as described in the annual report 
submitted to Congress pursuant to section 406 of 
the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 
Years 1990 and 1991; 
(2) the term ‘‘most recent session of the Gen-
eral Assembly’’ means the most recently completed 
plenary session of the General Assembly for which a 
comparison of the vote cast by each member country 
with the vote cast by the United States is described 
in the most recent report submitted to Congress 
pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Relations 
Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991; and 
(3) the term ‘‘United States assistance’’ means 
assistance under— 
(A) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; 
relating to the economic support fund); 
(B) chapter 5 of part II of such Act (22 
U.S.C. 2347 et seq.; relating to international 
military education and training); 
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