I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1054
To prohibit certain foreign assistance to countries that consistently oppose
the United States position in the United Nations General Assembly.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 10, 1999
Mr. GOODLING (for himself, Mr. METCALF, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. BRADY of
Texas, and Mr. BAKER) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To prohibit certain foreign assistance to countries that con-
sistently oppose the United States position in the United
Nations General Assembly.
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’’.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES THAT
CONSISTENTLY OPPOSE THE UNITED STATES
POSITION IN THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL
ASSEMBLY.
(a) PROHIBITION.—United States assistance may not
be provided to a country that consistently opposed the
United States position in the United Nations General As-
sembly during the most recent session of the General As-
sembly.
(b) CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT.—If—
(1) the Secretary of State determines that,
since the beginning of the most recent session of the
General Assembly, there has been a fundamental
change in the leadership and policies of the govern-
ment of a country to which the prohibition in sub-
section (a) applies, and
(2) the Secretary believes that because of that
change the government of that country will no
longer consistently oppose the United States position
in the General Assembly,
the Secretary may exempt that country from that prohibi-
tion. Any such exemption shall be effective only until sub-
mission of the next report under section 406 of the For-
eign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and
1991 (22 U.S.C. 2414a). The Secretary shall submit to
the Congress a certification of each exemption made under
this subsection. Such certification shall be accompanied by
a discussion of the basis for the Secretary’s determination
and belief with respect to such exemption.
(c) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of State
may waive the requirement of subsection (a) if the Sec-
retary determines and reports to the Congress that despite
the United Nations voting pattern of a particular country,
the provision of United States assistance to that country
is necessary to promote United States foreign policy objec-
tives.
(d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—
(1) the term ‘‘consistently opposed the United
States position’’ means, in the case of a country,
that the country’s votes in the United Nations Gen-
eral Assembly coincided with the United States posi-
tion less than 25 percent of the time, using for this
purpose the overall percentage-of-voting coincidences
set forth in the annual report submitted to the Con-
gress pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Rela-
tions 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
overall percentage-of-voting coincidences is set forth
in the most recent report submitted to the 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 (relating to the economic
support fund),
(B) chapter 5 of part II of that Act (relat-
ing to international military education and
training), or
(C) the ‘‘Foreign Military Financing Pro-
gram’’ account under section 23 of the Arms
Export Control Act.
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section takes effect
upon the date of the submission to the Congress of the
report pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991, that is
required to be submitted by March 31, 2000.
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