Bill Summary
This bill, known as the International Spending Transparency Act, directs the Secretary of State to create a unit within the Office of the Inspector General to audit the United States' contributions to multilateral and international organizations. This unit will be responsible for submitting an annual audit of these contributions to the Secretary, which will include information on the amount of contributions, how they were used, and any issues of fraud or abuse. The Secretary will then report this information to the appropriate congressional committees. This bill does not authorize any additional funding for these audits, and defines terms such as "appropriate congressional committees" and "Secretary" for clarity.
Possible Impacts
1. The International Spending Transparency Act could potentially affect people by providing more transparency and accountability for how their tax dollars are being spent on international and multilateral organizations. This could lead to increased public scrutiny and pressure for these organizations to use funds more effectively.
2. The establishment of a unit to audit US contributions could also affect individuals who work for or are affiliated with these organizations, as they may face increased scrutiny and potential consequences if fraud, waste, or abuse is found.
3. The limitation on additional appropriations for this act could potentially affect people by limiting the resources available for other programs or departments within the Department of State. This could impact the services and support provided to individuals who rely on these programs.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8907 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8907
To direct the Secretary of State to establish a unit within the Office
of the Inspector General to audit United States contributions to
multilateral and international organizations, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 9, 2020
Mr. Bergman (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Crenshaw,
and Mr. Johnson of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of State to establish a unit within the Office
of the Inspector General to audit United States contributions to
multilateral and 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 ``International Spending Transparency
Act''.
SEC. 2. AUDIT OF UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO MULTILATERAL AND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish within the
Office of Audits of the Office of the Inspector General of the
Department of State a unit to be known as the ``Unit to Audit US
Contributions to Multilateral and International Organizations''.
(b) Annual Audit.--
(1) In general.--Not later than December 31 of each year,
the unit established pursuant to subsection (a) shall submit to
the Secretary an audit of United States contributions to
multilateral and international organizations during the
immediately preceding fiscal year.
(2) Elements.--Each audit under paragraph (1) shall include
the following:
(A) Information relating to--
(i) the aggregate amount of United States
contributions to recipient multilateral and
international organizations;
(ii) the amount of contributions spent on
administrative costs in comparison to projects;
and
(iii) the purposes for each such
contribution.
(B) An analysis relating to--
(i) whether each such organization achieved
the purpose for the contributions;
(ii) fraud, waste, or abuse of such
contributions by each such organization; and
(iii) whether the contributions received by
each such organization were in turn provided
directly or indirectly to--
(I) the People's Republic of China;
(II) the Russian Federation;
(III) the Islamic Republic of Iran;
(IV) the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea;
(V) the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela;
(VI) the Syrian Arab Republic; or
(VII) an organization designated as
a foreign terrorist organization
pursuant to section 219 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1189).
(C) Information relating to the challenges of
citizens of the United States seeking employment in the
United Nations.
(D) Information relating to the whistleblower
protection standards of multilateral and international
organizations receiving contributions.
(c) Report.--Not later than 30 days after the receipt of each audit
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report based on the information and analysis
in each such audit.
(d) Limitation.--No additional appropriations are authorized to
carry out this section, which shall be carried out using amounts
otherwise authorized to be appropriated to the Department of State.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--the term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the House
of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations in the
Senate.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of State.
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