Title: Abiding by United States Commitments Act of 2020
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Abiding by United States Commitments Act of 2020
This bill requires the Department of State to pay the full FY2020 U.S. assessment for certain international organizations, and it makes $118.9 million available to the World Health Organization (WHO) for COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) response. Such funds made available to the WHO may not be used for advance payment to withdraw the United States from the WHO.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4546 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4546

      To provide for the prompt payment of United States assessed 
 contributions to international organizations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 9, 2020

  Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. 
Cantwell, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Reed, and Mrs. 
  Feinstein) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To provide for the prompt payment of United States assessed 
 contributions to international organizations, 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 ``Abiding by United States Commitments 
Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) COVID-19 has killed United States citizens at six times 
        the average rate of other high-income countries.
            (2) The United States records eight times the number of 
        infections of other high-income countries.
            (3) United States citizens are barred from entering dozens 
        of countries, including allies, due to the Administration's 
        inability to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the United 
        States.
            (4) On June 25, 2020, the Senate unanimously passed Senate 
        Resolution 579, recognizing historic United States leadership 
        and international achievements to address global health 
        threats, encouraging the international community to remain 
        committed to preventing the further spread of COVID-19, and 
        urging the United States to participate in and support global 
        efforts to address COVID-19.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States should participate in global public-
        private efforts to develop, manufacture, and equitably 
        distribute a vaccine for COVID-19, including in the COVID-19 
        Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility, which aims to speed 
        vaccine development, mitigate risk, secure doses for all 
        countries, and distribute them to the most high-risk segment of 
        each population; and
            (2) the suspension of United States support for the World 
        Health Organization (WHO) and other efforts to discredit the 
        WHO are deeply concerning and will have an adverse impact on 
        efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

SEC. 4. PAYMENT OF UNITED STATES ASSESSED CONTRIBUTIONS TO 
              INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall use amounts 
appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of State for 
fiscal year 2020 in any appropriations Act under the heading 
``Contributions to International Organizations'' to pay the full fiscal 
year 2020 United States assessment for each international organization 
funded under that heading.
    (b) World Health Organization.--Of the amounts appropriated or 
otherwise made available to the Department of State for fiscal year 
2020 for ``Contributions to International Organizations'', $118,949,000 
shall be made available not later than 60 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act for the World Health Organization for COVID-19 
response. Such funds may not be made available for advance payment to 
withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization.
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