Title: Ambassador Oversight and Transparency Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Ambassador Oversight and Transparency Act
This bill requires the President and each individual appointed or assigned to be a chief of mission to make certain disclosures, including (1) the source and extent of the individual's knowledge related to the area in which they have been nominated to serve, and (2) specified campaign contributions. The President must also certify that any contributions made by the nominee played no role in the nomination.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4849 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4849

To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees to serve as 
              chiefs of missions, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             October 22 (legislative day, October 19), 2020

   Mr. Kaine introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees to serve as 
              chiefs of missions, 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 ``Ambassador Oversight and 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES REQUIRED WITH RESPECT TO NOMINEES.

    Section 304 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3944) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(4), by adding at the end the 
        following: ``Each such report shall explain the source of, and 
        the extent to which such nominee obtained knowledge of, the 
        principal language or dialect of the country, region, or 
        institution in which the nominee has been nominated to serve as 
        chief of mission and the manner and extent to which such 
        nominee meets the criteria described in paragraph (1), 
        particularly with respect to the source and extent of such 
        individual's knowledge and understanding of the history, 
        culture, economics, politics, and interests of the people of 
        such country, region, or institution.''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by striking ``Each'' and inserting the 
                        following: ``(A) In this paragraph--
            ``(i) the term `bundled contribution' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 304(i)(8)(A) of the Federal Election 
        Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(i)(8)(A)).
            ``(ii) the term `contribution' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 301(8) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 
        1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(8)); and
            ``(iii) the term `immediate family' means--
                    ``(I) the spouse of the nominee;
                    ``(II) any child, parent, grandparent, brother, or 
                sister of the nominee; and
                    ``(III) the spouse of any of the individuals 
                described in subclause (II).
    ``(B) Each'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B), as redesignated, 
                        by striking ``fourth calendar year'' and 
                        inserting ``tenth calendar year'';
                            (iii) by striking ``The report'' and 
                        inserting the following:
    ``(C) The report shall include the disclosure of all bundled 
contributions facilitated by the nominee during the period described in 
subparagraph (B), in accordance with section 304(i)(8) of the Federal 
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(i)(8)), and'';
                            (iv) by striking ``The chairman'' and 
                        inserting the following:
    ``(D) The chairman'';
                            (v) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated, 
                        by adding at the end the following: ``The 
                        Secretary of State shall publish each such 
                        report and each `Certificate of Competency' 
                        issued pursuant to subsection (a)(4)(A) on a 
                        publicly available website of the Department of 
                        State.''; and
                            (vi) by striking ``As used in this 
                        paragraph'' and all that follows; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) The President shall certify to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate that any contributions made by each individual 
nominated to be a chief of mission or members of the nominee's 
immediate family, whether or not included in the report described in 
paragraph (2), played no role in such nomination.''.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL INSPECTIONS REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN DIPLOMATIC AND 
              CONSULAR POSTS.

    (a) Noncareer Member of the Foreign Service Defined.--In this 
section, the term ``noncareer member of the Foreign Service'' means a 
person who, on the date on which such person is nominated to serve as a 
chief of mission for a diplomatic or consular post, had not served as a 
career member of the Foreign Service (as described in section 301(d) of 
the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3941(d)).
    (b) Inspections Required.--The Inspector General of the Department 
of State and the Foreign Service shall annually conduct the inspections 
described in section 209(b) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 
U.S.C. 3929(b)) with respect to not fewer than 25 percent of the 
diplomatic or consular posts at which the chief of mission was a 
noncareer member of the Foreign Service as of July 1 of the most 
recently concluded fiscal year. The Inspector General may not inspect 
the same diplomatic or consular post in consecutive fiscal years unless 
the Secretary of State authorizes such consecutive inspections, on a 
case-by-case basis.
    (c) Public Availability.--The findings from each inspection 
required under subsection (b) shall be made publicly available on an 
internet website of the Department of State.
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