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 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 556 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 556

    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

                            January 28, 2021

   Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Mr. Bera, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. 
Deutch, Mrs. Beatty, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Larson 
  of Connecticut, Mr. Cooper, Ms. Speier, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. 
Foster, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Gallego, Ms. Houlahan, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
 Higgins of New York, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Wild, Mrs. Demings, Ms. 
     Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Malinowski, Mr. Trone, Mr. Larsen of 
   Washington, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Escobar, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. Watson 
Coleman, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Bonamici, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, 
  Mrs. Napolitano, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Danny K. Davis of 
   Illinois, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Lois 
Frankel of Florida, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Smith of Washington, 
 Mr. Stanton, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Welch, Ms. 
Matsui, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. DeFazio, 
  Mr. Schneider, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. 
Cartwright, Mrs. McBath, Mr. Peters, Mr. Gomez, Ms. Chu, Ms. Meng, Mr. 
Torres of New York, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Brendan 
  F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Pappas, Mr. 
 Jones, Mrs. Torres of California, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Miss Rice of 
New York, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mrs. Fletcher, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. 
  Takano, Mr. Green of Texas, Ms. Newman, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Neguse, Mr. 
   Carbajal, Mr. Casten, Ms. Manning, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. 
Norton, Mr. Soto, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. Beyer, Mr. 
Thompson of California, Mr. Panetta, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, 
  Mr. Khanna, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Levin of California, Ms. 
  Clarke of New York, Mr. Kahele, Mr. Crow, Mr. Case, Ms. Kuster, Mr. 
Price of North Carolina, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Bass, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Eshoo, 
 Mr. Quigley, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. 
Raskin, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Kind, Mr. 
McEachin, Ms. Ross, Ms. Adams, Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Ms. 
Wexton, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mr. Himes, Ms. Dean, Mr. Auchincloss, 
  Ms. Bush, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Delgado, Mr. Payne, Mr. 
  Sires, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. 
 Costa, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Keating, 
 Ms. Omar, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Jeffries, 
 Ms. Underwood, Mr. Carson, Mrs. Dingell, Mrs. Murphy of Florida, Ms. 
 Lofgren, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Rush, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Craig, 
Mr. Ruiz, Mr. Horsford, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Correa, Mr. Neal, Mr. Lawson of 
 Florida, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Jayapal, 
Mr. Aguilar, Mr. Ryan, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Allred, and Mr. Scott 
 of Virginia) 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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