United Nations Voting Accountability Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 28 To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose the position of the United States in the United Nations. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. GOHMERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose the position of the United States in the United Nations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Voting 4 Accountability Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H28.IH H28 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 28 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES THAT 1 OPPOSE THE POSITION OF THE UNITED 2 STATES IN THE UNITED NATIONS. 3 (a) PROHIBITION.—United States assistance may not 4 be provided to a country that opposed the position of the 5 United States in the United Nations. 6 (b) EXEMPTION DUE TO CHANGE IN GOVERN- 7 MENT.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State may 9 exempt a country from the prohibition described in 10 subsection (a) if the Secretary determines that since 11 the beginning of the most recent session of the Gen- 12 eral Assembly— 13 (A) there has been a fundamental change 14 in the leadership and policies of the government 15 of a country to which the prohibition in such 16 subsection applies; and 17 (B) as a result of such change, the govern- 18 ment of such country will no longer oppose the 19 position of the United States in the United Na- 20 tions. 21 (2) DURATION OF EXEMPTION.—An exemption 22 under paragraph (1) shall be effective only until sub- 23 mission of the next report required under section 24 406 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fis- 25 cal Years 1990 and 1991 (22 U.S.C. 2414a) that is 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H28.IH H28 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 28 IH submitted after the Secretary of State makes such 1 an exemption. 2 (3) NOTIFICATION AND DISCUSSION.—The Sec- 3 retary of State shall notify Congress with respect to 4 an exemption made under paragraph (1), together 5 with a discussion of the basis for the Secretary’s de- 6 termination with respect to each such exemption. 7 (c) EXEMPTION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY INTER- 8 ESTS.—The President may exempt a country from the 9 prohibition described in subsection (a) if the President de- 10 termines that such exemption is in the national security 11 interests of the United States and transmits to Congress 12 a written statement explaining such national security in- 13 terest. 14 (d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act— 15 (1) the term ‘‘opposed the position of the 16 United States’’ means, in the case of a country, that 17 the country’s recorded votes in the United Nations 18 General Assembly during the most recent session of 19 the General Assembly and, in the case of a country 20 which is a member of the United Nations Security 21 Council, the country’s recorded votes both in the Se- 22 curity Council and the General Assembly during the 23 most recent session of the General Assembly, were 24 the same as the position of the United States less 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H28.IH H28 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 28 IH than 50 percent of the time, using for this purpose 1 a comparison of the recorded vote cast by each mem- 2 ber country with the recorded vote cast by the 3 United States, as described in the annual report 4 submitted to Congress pursuant to section 406 of 5 the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 6 Years 1990 and 1991; 7 (2) the term ‘‘most recent session of the Gen- 8 eral Assembly’’ means the most recently completed 9 plenary session of the General Assembly for which a 10 comparison of the vote cast by each member country 11 with the vote cast by the United States is described 12 in the most recent report submitted to Congress 13 pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Relations 14 Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991; and 15 (3) the term ‘‘United States assistance’’ means 16 assistance under— 17 (A) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign As- 18 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; 19 relating to the economic support fund); 20 (B) chapter 5 of part II of such Act (22 21 U.S.C. 2347 et seq.; relating to international 22 military education and training); 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H28.IH H28 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 28 IH (C) the ‘‘Foreign Military Financing Pro- 1 gram’’ account under section 23 of the Arms 2 Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2763); and 3 (D) any other monetary or physical assist- 4 ance. 5 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect 6 upon the date of the submission to Congress of the report 7 required under section 406 of the Foreign Relations Au- 8 thorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991, that is re- 9 quired to be submitted by March 31, 2019. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:51 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H28.IH H28 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS