Ambassador Oversight and Transparency Act

Bill: 117-s-4025
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA]
Introduced: 2022-04-07
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2022-04-07
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S2094-2095)

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-04-07
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Ambassador Oversight and Transparency Act</b></p> <p>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.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4025 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 7, 2022 Mr. Kaine (for himself and Mr. Booker ) 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Ambassador Oversight and Transparency Act . 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 and the extent of such nominee’s 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. . 3. Management assessments at diplomatic and consular posts (a) In general Beginning not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall annually conduct, at each diplomatic and consular post, a universal survey, which shall be completed by all staff assigned to that post who are citizens of the United States (excluding the chief of mission) to assess the management and leadership of that post by the chief of mission. (b) Anonymity All responses to the survey shall be anonymized before being made available to the relevant regional assistant secretary of the Department of State and the Director General of the Foreign Service. (c) Referral If corrective action does not resolve deficiencies in performance by the chief of mission identified by the survey, the Director General of the Foreign Service may refer the matter to the Inspector General of the Department of State, who shall conduct an inspection of the post in accordance with section 209(b) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 ( 22 U.S.C. 3929(b) ). (d) Annual report The Director General of the Foreign Service shall submit an annual report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives that— (1) identifies the posts at which corrective action was taken as a result of responses from a survey described in subsection (a); (2) describes the performance deficiencies identified by the survey and the corrective action taken to remediate such deficiencies; and (3) explains the reasons for not referring the matter to the Inspector General of the Department of State and the Foreign Service.