Title: Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act
This bill establishes that a foreign nongovernmental organization shall not be disqualified from receiving certain U.S. international development assistance solely because the organization provides medical services using non-U.S. government funds if the medical services are legal in both the United States and the country in which they are being provided. Such foreign organizations shall not be subject to requirements relating to their use of non-U.S. funds for advocacy or lobbying activities, other than those that apply to U.S. nongovernmental organizations.
Current U.S. policy prohibits various foreign assistance from going to a foreign nongovernmental organization unless it agrees to not perform or actively promote abortions.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1055 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1055

    To prohibit the application of certain restrictive eligibility 
 requirements to foreign nongovernmental organizations with respect to 
the provision of assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act 
                                of 1961.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 7, 2019

Mrs. Lowey (for herself, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Connolly, Miss Rice 
    of New York, Mr. Engel, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Norton, Ms. Wasserman 
 Schultz, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. McGovern, Ms. 
   Pingree, Mr. Keating, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr. Pocan, Mr. 
 Foster, Mr. Moulton, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Sarbanes, 
 Mr. Panetta, Mr. Rush, Ms. Meng, Mr. Ruiz, Ms. Jayapal, Mrs. Dingell, 
Mr. Schneider, Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. 
    McEachin, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Brown of 
 Maryland, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. 
   Castor of Florida, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Bera, Mr. 
Schrader, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Smith of Washington, 
Mr. Sires, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Moore, 
Mr. Payne, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Frankel, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Yarmuth, 
Ms. Titus, Mr. Soto, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Richmond, 
Mr. Beyer, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Shalala, Mr. Deutch, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mrs. 
  Torres of California, Mr. Hastings, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. 
 DeGette, Mr. Crist, Mr. Peters, Ms. Brownley of California, Ms. Omar, 
    Mr. Welch, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. 
 DeSaulnier, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Rose of New York, 
Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Ted Lieu of 
  California, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Takano, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Higgins of New 
   York, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Cummings, Mrs. Demings, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. 
     Lujan, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Speier, Mr. Tonko, Ms. 
   Velazquez, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Roybal-
Allard, Mr. Pallone, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Loebsack, Mr. Price of North 
 Carolina, Ms. Bass, Mr. Heck, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Pappas, Mrs. 
Davis of California, Ms. Haaland, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Ms. 
Kaptur, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Ruppersberger, Ms. Dean, Mr. Kind, Ms. Fudge, 
 Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mrs. Fletcher, Ms. Waters, Mr. Himes, Ms. Wild, 
  Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Ryan, Mr. 
   Raskin, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. 
     Courtney, Mr. Trone, Ms. Hill of California, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. 
    Visclosky, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. 
   Garamendi, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Wexton, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. 
Morelle, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Schrier, and 
 Mr. Perlmutter) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To prohibit the application of certain restrictive eligibility 
 requirements to foreign nongovernmental organizations with respect to 
the provision of assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act 
                                of 1961.

    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 ``Global Health, Empowerment and 
Rights Act''.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR FOREIGN NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS UNDER PART 
              I OF THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, regulation, or policy, 
in determining eligibility for assistance authorized under part I of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), foreign 
nongovernmental organizations--
            (1) shall not be ineligible for such assistance solely on 
        the basis of health or medical services, including counseling 
        and referral services, provided by such organizations with non-
        United States Government funds if such services do not violate 
        the laws of the country in which they are being provided and 
        would not violate United States Federal law if provided in the 
        United States; and
            (2) shall not be subject to requirements relating to the 
        use of non-United States Government funds for advocacy and 
        lobbying activities other than those that apply to United 
        States nongovernmental organizations receiving assistance under 
        part I of such Act.
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