IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1268 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that United States 
foreign assistance is a critical instrument for achieving our national 
security goals and that modernizing United States foreign assistance 
should become a national priority. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 11, 2008 
Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota (for herself, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. 
WOLF, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. FARR, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. HONDA, 
Mr. LYNCH, Mr. LAHOOD, and Mr. CARSON) submitted the following res-
olution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
United States foreign assistance is a critical instrument 
for achieving our national security goals and that mod-
ernizing United States foreign assistance should become 
a national priority. 
Whereas foreign assistance has been an essential component 
of United States national security strategy and a power-
ful demonstration of America’s national values since the 
end of World War II; 
Whereas 60 years ago, in April of 1948, Congress committed 
resources in support of the Marshall Plan, channeling 
$115,000,000,000 in economic aid and technical assist-
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•HRES 1268 IH 
ance to 16 European countries and initiating America’s 
first major international foreign assistance initiative, 
yielding one of the greatest achievements of the 20th cen-
tury; 
Whereas over the last three generations, the commitment of 
the United States to humanitarian crisis interventions, 
long-term development activities, postconflict reconstruc-
tion, and military and economic support has saved mil-
lions of lives, built a bulwark against the spread of com-
munism, and defined America’s global leadership through 
its commitment to democracy, good governance, economic 
growth, and the global fight against disease, hunger, and 
poverty; 
Whereas United States foreign assistance is an investment in 
global security, stability, and prosperity, and is a critical 
instrument of American power, prestige, and influence in 
the world, which confers tangible, long-term benefits to 
American citizens in the form of reduced national secu-
rity threats, expanded economic opportunities, and the 
fulfillment of America’s moral obligations to ‘‘champion 
aspirations for human dignity’’, as stated in the 2006 
National Security Strategy; 
Whereas according to the 2007/2008 United Nations Human 
Development Report, 2,600,000,000 people, or 40 per-
cent of the world’s population, live on less than two dol-
lars a day, and often confront hunger, disease, and mis-
ery; 
Whereas the 9/11 Commission Report states, ‘‘In the post- 
9/11 world, threats are defined more by the fault lines 
within societies than by the territorial boundaries be-
tween them [and] [f]rom terrorism to global disease or 
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environmental degradation, the challenges have become 
transnational rather than international’’; 
Whereas the Administration asserted in the 2006 National 
Security Strategy that ‘‘development reinforces diplomacy 
and defense, reducing long-term threats to our national 
security by helping to build stable, prosperous, and 
peaceful societies’’; 
Whereas the 2006 National Security Strategy declared, 
‘‘Helping the world’s poor is a strategic priority and a 
moral imperative’’, and the United States must ‘‘assist 
the world’s poor citizens and least developed nations and 
help integrate them into the global economy’’; 
Whereas the Commission on Weak States and United States 
National Security, a bipartisan panel of 30 former gov-
ernment officials, senior business leaders, academics, and 
nongovernmental organization representatives, recognized 
in 2004 that ‘‘[W]eak and failed states matter to Amer-
ican security, American values, and the prospects for 
global economic growth upon which the American econ-
omy depends’’; 
Whereas the Commission on Weak States and United States 
National Security also found that ‘‘the security challenge 
[weak and failed states] present cannot be met through 
security means alone, [and] the roots of this challenge— 
the long-term hope for its resolution—lie in development, 
broadly understood as progress toward stable, account-
able national institutions that can meet citizens’ needs 
and take full part in the workings of the international 
community’’; 
Whereas the bipartisan Commission on Smart Power, con-
vened by the Center for Strategic and International Stud-
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ies (CSIS), concluded in 2007 that ‘‘American leaders 
ought to commit to global development because it rein-
forces basic American values, contributes to peace, jus-
tice, and prosperity, and improves the way we are viewed 
around the world’’; 
Whereas the Commission on Smart Power further found that 
‘‘Investing in development contributes to American secu-
rity at home by promoting stability abroad’’; 
Whereas the current United States foreign assistance pro-
grams, structures, and assumptions, which were devel-
oped during the Cold War and evolved over six decades, 
are in need of modernization to effectively confront cur-
rent and future foreign policy and national security chal-
lenges; 
Whereas Congress mandated the bipartisan HELP Commis-
sion, which spent nearly 2 years conducting extensive 
overseas travel to interview aid recipients and assess aid 
programs in the field and interviewing the world’s fore-
most experts on United States foreign assistance, includ-
ing current and former Secretaries of State, leaders of 
United States Government agencies involved with foreign 
assistance, international experts, scholars, contractors, 
nongovernmental organization officials, and businesses, 
and studied previous reform efforts and reports, which 
tellingly found ‘‘not one person appeared before [the] 
Commission to defend the status quo’’; 
Whereas the bipartisan Brookings-CSIS Task Force for 
Transforming Foreign Assistance in the 21st Century 
analyzed the fragmented state of the United States for-
eign assistance infrastructure, noting there are ‘‘more 
than 50 separate United States Government units in-
volved in aid delivery, [resulting in] duplication and dis-
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array’’, and further cited that this ‘‘current cacophony of 
actors within the United States Government undermines 
American leadership internationally’’; 
Whereas the Brookings-CSIS Task Force called for the 
United States Government to ‘‘rationalize agencies and 
clarify [agency] missions’’; 
Whereas the Commission on Smart Power called upon the 
next President to ‘‘address three vital development issues 
in the brief window of opportunity that exists at the be-
ginning of any new administration: elevating the develop-
ment mission within the United States Government; de-
veloping a more unified approach to our aid; and devel-
oping locally-supported and measurable delivery sys-
tems’’; 
Whereas the 2006 National Security Strategy declares, ‘‘Im-
proving the way we use foreign assistance will make it 
more effective in strengthening responsible governments, 
responding to suffering, and improving people’s lives’’; 
Whereas Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recognized the 
urgent need to modernize United States foreign assist-
ance by introducing the ‘‘F process’’ reforms as part of 
the Department’s ‘‘transformational diplomacy’’ initiative 
in January 2006; 
Whereas Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated on No-
vember 26, 2007, ‘‘One of the most important lessons of 
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that military success 
is not sufficient to win: economic development, institu-
tion-building and the rule of law, promoting internal rec-
onciliation, good governance, providing basic services to 
people, training and equipping indigenous military and 
police forces, strategic communications, and more—these, 
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along with security, are essential ingredients for long- 
term success’’; 
Whereas Secretary Gates also noted the ‘‘need for a dramatic 
increase in spending on the civilian instruments of na-
tional security—diplomacy, strategic communications, 
foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruc-
tion and development’’; 
Whereas the need to modernize United States foreign assist-
ance is reinforced by the efforts of rising global powers, 
such as China, to utilize foreign aid to advance their own 
national interests in strategic areas of the world; and 
Whereas the comprehensive modernization of United States 
foreign assistance will require a renewed partnership be-
tween Congress and the executive branch to meet the 
challenges of the 21st century: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the comprehensive modernization 
of the United States foreign assistance apparatus to 
effectively meet 21st century global challenges, such 
as terrorism, poverty, pandemic disease, climate 
change, energy security, failed or failing states, food 
insecurity, a lack of or slow economic growth, and 
population and migration issues; 
(2) affirms defense, diplomacy, and develop-
ment are the three essential components to ensure 
United States national security, as stated in the 
President’s 2002 National Security Strategy, and 
that each component is an essential, independent, 
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•HRES 1268 IH 
and mutually reinforcing element of a comprehen-
sive, effective, and long-term United States national 
security strategy; 
(3) affirms that foreign assistance in the form 
of long-term development activities, humanitarian 
crisis response, postconflict reconstruction, and eco-
nomic and military support is an indispensable in-
strument of United States power, and a key deter-
minant of our standing in the world that should be 
used to translate our moral beliefs and national in-
terests into practical actions by— 
(A) mitigating threats to national and 
global security; 
(B) supporting the efforts of citizens of 
any country to pursue political freedom while 
building capable, effective, and democratic 
states; and 
(C) reducing global poverty by increasing 
economic opportunity and improving quality of 
life; 
(4) affirms that a modernization of United 
States foreign assistance should embody the con-
sensus recommendations of the United States na-
tional security community, congressionally mandated 
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commissions, development experts, and independent 
research organizations, which include— 
(A) aligning foreign assistance policies, op-
erations, budgets, and statutory authorities; 
(B) matching sufficient resources to a 
clear set of objectives shared by the executive 
branch and Congress; 
(C) strengthening civilian operational capa-
bilities and expanding the cadre of skilled and 
trained international development professionals 
inside the Government; 
(D) reducing the number of agencies re-
sponsible for development and restructuring for-
eign assistance activities to— 
(i) elevate global development to a 
standing alongside defense and diplomacy 
to emphasize its importance; 
(ii) enable the United States to articu-
late and promote a strategic and coherent 
approach to global development and the 
utilization of our foreign assistance tools; 
(iii) provide Congress with the means 
for ensuring accountability; and 
(iv) facilitate strong partnerships with 
the many American private, faith-based, 
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and nongovernmental organizations that 
are increasingly engaged in addressing de-
velopment challenges; 
(E) measuring results through strength-
ened monitoring and evaluation systems and by 
publicly reporting the impact of our investments 
against their intended objectives; 
(F) strengthening the commitment of re-
cipient governments and other partners to poli-
cies that ensure fiscal accountability, establish 
monitoring and benchmarks for aid, reduce cor-
ruption, increase local capacity, respect human 
rights, and promote political and economic free-
dom; and 
(G) applying internationally recognized 
principles of aid effectiveness, which include— 
(i) the harmonization of policies and 
practices with other donors and leveraging 
investments through collaboration with 
other countries; 
(ii) the alignment with national prior-
ities of host governments in well-governed 
countries; 
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(iii) the lowering of transaction costs 
for both the United States and recipient 
governments; and 
(iv) policy and programmatic trans-
parency to benefit both the American pub-
lic and the intended beneficiaries; 
(5) supports the creation of a strategy to mod-
ernize foreign assistance in accordance with the 
widely recognized principles enumerated in this reso-
lution and affirms modernization should be a pri-
ority for both Congress and the Administration; and 
(6) calls for a renewed partnership between 
Congress and the Administration to define a com-
mon vision of the role and management of United 
States foreign assistance that provides the President 
with the flexibility needed to act in a quickly chang-
ing world, while ensuring input and oversight by 
Congress. 
Æ 
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