I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4516 
To require the Secretary of State to ensure that commodities procured for 
the purpose of foreign assistance are made available to intended bene-
ficiaries before such commodities expire, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 17, 2025 
Mr. MEEKS (for himself, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. MENG, Mr. AMO, 
Ms. JACOBS, Mr. NADLER, and Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of State to ensure that commodities 
procured for the purpose of foreign assistance are made 
available to intended beneficiaries before such commod-
ities expire, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Saving Lives and Tax-
payer Dollars Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Foreign assistance commodities, including 
food, medicine, family planning products, and vac-
cines, provide critical support to people who are re-
covering from the aftermath of natural disasters, 
fleeing conflict or war, residing in refugee camps, or 
living in developing communities with limited access 
to health care. 
(2) United States investments in global health 
bolster economic growth for partner countries, 
produce returns on investment for the United States 
economy, create an estimated 600,000 jobs in the 
United 
States, 
and 
generated 
an 
estimated 
$104,000,000,000 in economic activity during the 
15-year period between 2007 and 2022. 
(3) Reliable access to vaccines and medications, 
including pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiretroviral 
drugs to prevent the spread of HIV and vaccines to 
prevent the transmission of communicable diseases 
such as polio and drug-resistant tuberculosis, makes 
everyone safer. 
(4) United States food assistance benefits 
United States farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses, 
while addressing global food insecurity. United 
States farmers annually supply an estimated 40 per-
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cent of all international food assistance, which is val-
ued at approximately $2,000,000,000. 
(5) Greater access to family planning products 
and services has the potential to prevent up to 30 
percent of the 295,000 annual maternal deaths and 
save the lives of approximately 1,400,000 children 
who are younger than 5 years old. 
(6) The voluntary destruction of foreign assist-
ance commodities intended for beneficiaries at risk 
of food insecurity and famine, sexual violence, ma-
ternal and infant death and disease is unethical and 
contrary to United States interests and moral obli-
gations. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON THE DESTRUCTION OF FOREIGN 
ASSISTANCE PRODUCTS AND COMMODITIES. 
Section 102 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
(22 U.S.C. 2151–1) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(18) Perishable and nonperishable foreign as-
sistance commodities and products, including medi-
cine, vaccines, medical devices, food, and food com-
modities that are procured, managed, controlled, or 
held in warehouses, ships, shipping containers, or 
any other storage facility, by the United States Gov-
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ernment or by a foreign assistance implementing 
partner of the United States Government shall be 
made available to intended beneficiaries, including 
through donation, for their intended purpose and be-
fore the date on which such commodities and prod-
ucts spoil or expire.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d)(1) If any commodity is in the possession or con-
trol of a foreign assistance implementing partner of the 
United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Ag-
riculture, or the Administrator of the United States Agen-
cy for International Development, as appropriate, shall, on 
an expedited basis, release such funds as may be necessary 
to ensure the delivery or donation of the commodity to 
the intended beneficiaries before the date the commodity 
spoils or expires. 
‘‘(2) No commodity may be destroyed unless every 
effort has been made to sell, donate, or otherwise make 
the commodity available (whichever is more likely to en-
sure the commodity will be received and used by the in-
tended beneficiaries) before the date the commodity spoils 
or expires. 
‘‘(3)(A) Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of the Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars Act, 
and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State, in coordi-
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nation with the Administrator of the United States Agen-
cy for International Development and the Secretary of Ag-
riculture, as appropriate, shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report that describes any com-
modity that, during the year prior to the date of the sub-
mission of the report expired, spoiled, or was destroyed 
prior to the delivery of such commodity to an intended 
beneficiary. 
‘‘(B) Each report required by subparagraph (A) shall 
include, for each expired, spoiled, or destroyed commodity 
described— 
‘‘(i) a description of all negotiations, plans, and 
efforts to make the commodity available to the in-
tended beneficiaries; 
‘‘(ii) the reason the commodity was not made 
available to the intended beneficiaries; 
‘‘(iii) the intended purpose of the commodity; 
‘‘(iv) a list of the geographic locations of all in-
tended beneficiaries of the commodity, by country or 
region, as appropriate; 
‘‘(v) the procured and market value of the com-
modity; and 
‘‘(vi) the cost incurred to destroy or dispose of 
the commodity. 
‘‘(4) In this subsection— 
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