Multilateral Aid Review Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2299 To establish a review of United States multilateral aid. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 12, 2019 Mr. BUCK (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To establish a review of United States multilateral aid. 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 ‘‘Multilateral Aid Re- 4 view Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6 The purpose of this Act is to establish a United 7 States Multilateral Aid Review (in this Act referred to as 8 the ‘‘Review’’) to publicly assess the value of United States 9 Government investments in multilateral entities. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2299 IH SEC. 3. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- 1 FINED. 2 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 3 mittees’’ means— 4 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 5 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 6 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 7 Committee on Financial Services, and the Com- 8 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Represent- 9 atives. 10 SEC. 4. OBJECTIVES. 11 The objectives of the Review are as follows: 12 (1) Provide a tool to guide the United States 13 Government’s decisionmaking and prioritization with 14 regard to funding multilateral entities and to provide 15 a methodological basis for allocating scarce budg- 16 etary resources to entities that advance relevant 17 United States foreign policy objectives. 18 (2) Incentivize improvements in the perform- 19 ance of multilateral entities to achieve better out- 20 comes on the ground in developing, fragile, and cri- 21 sis-afflicted regions. 22 (3) Protect United States taxpayer investments 23 in foreign assistance by improving transparency with 24 regard to the funding of multilateral entities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2299 IH SEC. 5. SCOPE. 1 The Review shall include in its assessment multilat- 2 eral entities to which the United States Government con- 3 tributes voluntary or assessed funding, whether cash or 4 in-kind. 5 SEC. 6. TRIENNIAL REPORT ON REVIEW. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than twenty-one months 7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 8 three years thereafter, the United States Multilateral Aid 9 Review Task Force established under section 7, in regular 10 consultation with the Peer Review Group established 11 under section 8, shall submit to the appropriate congres- 12 sional committees a final report on the findings of the Re- 13 view. The Secretary of State shall publish the report on 14 the internet website of the Department of State within 15 seven days of submitting the report to the appropriate 16 congressional committees. 17 (b) METHODOLOGY.— 18 (1) USE OF CRITERIA.—The Task Force shall 19 establish an analytical framework and assessment 20 scorecard for the Review using the criteria set forth 21 in subsection (c). 22 (2) CONSULTATION WITH CONGRESS.—Not 23 later than 120 days after the date of the enactment 24 of this Act, the Task Force shall submit the method- 25 ology for the initial Review to the appropriate con- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2299 IH gressional committees. The Task Force may not pro- 1 ceed with the Review until 30 days after submission 2 of the methodology to the appropriate congressional 3 committees, taking into consideration the views of 4 the Chairmen and Ranking Members of each of the 5 appropriate congressional committees. For each sub- 6 sequent Review, the Task Force shall consult with 7 the Chairmen and Ranking Members of each of the 8 appropriate congressional committees regarding any 9 changes to the methodology. 10 (c) ASSESSMENT CRITERIA.—The assessment score- 11 card shall include the following criteria: 12 (1) RELATIONSHIP OF STATED GOALS TO AC- 13 TUAL RESULTS.—The extent to which the stated 14 mission, goals, and objectives of the entity have been 15 achieved during the review period, including— 16 (A) an identification of the stated mission, 17 goals, and objectives of each entity; 18 (B) an evaluation of the major projects 19 and programs selected for implementation by 20 the entity in comparison with the stated mis- 21 sion, goals, and objectives of the entity; 22 (C) an evaluation of whether the major 23 projects and programs selected by the entity 24 within the given review period were more likely 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2299 IH than not to further the achievement of the stat- 1 ed mission, goals, and objectives of the entity; 2 (D) an evaluation of the extent to which 3 the major selected projects and programs met 4 their own stated implementation timelines and 5 achieved declared results; and 6 (E) an evaluation of whether the entity op- 7 timizes resources to achieve the stated mission, 8 goals, and objectives of the entity. 9 (2) RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT.—The extent 10 to which management of the entity follows best man- 11 agement practices, including— 12 (A) an evaluation of the ratio of manage- 13 ment and administrative expenses to program 14 expenses, including an evaluation of entity re- 15 sources spent on nonprogrammatic expenses; 16 (B) an evaluation of program expense 17 growth, including a comparison of the annual 18 growth of program expenses to the annual 19 growth of management and administrative ex- 20 penses; and 21 (C) an evaluation of whether the entity has 22 established appropriate levels of senior manage- 23 ment compensation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2299 IH (3) ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY.— 1 The extent to which the policies and procedures of 2 the entity follow best practices of accountability and 3 transparency, taking into consideration credible re- 4 porting regarding unauthorized conversion or diver- 5 sion of entity resources, and including— 6 (A) an evaluation of whether the entity has 7 established and enforced appropriate auditing 8 procedures; 9 (B) an evaluation of whether the entity has 10 established and enforced appropriate rules to 11 reduce the risk of conflicts of interest among 12 the senior leadership of the entity; 13 (C) an evaluation of whether the entity has 14 established and enforced appropriate whistle- 15 blower policies; 16 (D) an evaluation of whether the entity 17 has established and maintained appropriate 18 records retention policies and guidelines; 19 (E) an evaluation of whether the entity has 20 established and maintained best practices with 21 respect to transparency and public disclosure; 22 and 23 (F) an evaluation of whether the entity has 24 established and maintained best practices with 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2299 IH respect to disclosure of the compensation of 1 senior leadership officials. 2 (4) ALIGNMENT WITH UNITED STATES FOREIGN 3 POLICY OBJECTIVES.—The extent to which the poli- 4 cies and practices of the entity align with relevant 5 United States foreign policy objectives, including— 6 (A) an evaluation of the entity’s stated 7 mission, goals, and objectives in comparison to 8 relevant United States foreign policy objectives; 9 (B) an evaluation of whether continued 10 participation by the United States in the entity 11 contributes a net benefit towards achieving rel- 12 evant United States foreign policy objectives, 13 including the reasons for the conclusion; and 14 (C) an evaluation of any divergence be- 15 tween the actions of the entity and relevant 16 United States foreign policy objectives. 17 (5) MULTILATERAL APPROACH COMPARED TO 18 BILATERAL APPROACH.—The extent to which pur- 19 suing relevant United States foreign policy objectives 20 through a multilateral approach is effective and cost- 21 efficient compared to a bilateral approach, includ- 22 ing— 23 (A) an evaluation of whether relevant 24 United States foreign policy objectives are effec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 2299 IH tively pursued through the entity, compared to 1 existing or potential bilateral approaches; and 2 (B) an evaluation of whether relevant 3 United States foreign policy objectives are pur- 4 sued on a cost-effective basis through the enti- 5 ty, compared to existing or potential bilateral 6 approaches. 7 (6) REDUNDANCIES AND OVERLAP.—The extent 8 to which the mission, goals, and objectives of the en- 9 tity overlap with the mission, goals, and objectives of 10 other multilateral institutions to which United 11 States Government entities contribute voluntary or 12 assessed funding, whether cash or in-kind, includ- 13 ing— 14 (A) an identification of significant 15 redundancies or overlap with the mission, goals, 16 and objectives of other multilateral entities to 17 which United States Government entities con- 18 tribute voluntary or assessed funding, whether 19 cash or in-kind; and 20 (B) a comparison of the extent to which 21 relevant United States foreign policy objectives 22 are effectively pursued on a cost-effective basis 23 through each of the overlapping entities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 2299 IH SEC. 7. UNITED STATES MULTILATERAL REVIEW TASK 1 FORCE. 2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 3 an interagency Multilateral Review Task Force (referred 4 to in this Act as the ‘‘Task Force’’) to review and assess 5 United States participation in multilateral entities identi- 6 fied in section 5 and to develop and transmit to the appro- 7 priate congressional committees the reports required 8 under section 6. 9 (b) LEADERSHIP.—The Task Force shall be chaired 10 by the Secretary of State. The Secretary may delegate his 11 or her responsibilities under this Act to an appropriate 12 senior Senate-confirmed official. 13 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The President may appoint to 14 the interagency Task Force senior Senate-confirmed offi- 15 cials from the Department of State, the Department of 16 the Treasury, the United States Agency for International 17 Development, the Office of Management and Budget, and 18 any other relevant executive branch department or agency. 19 (d) CONSULTATION.—In the preparation of each re- 20 port under section 6, including the initial review of meth- 21 odology, the Task Force shall consult regularly with the 22 Peer Review Group established under section 8. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 2299 IH SEC. 8. UNITED STATES MULTILATERAL AID REVIEW PEER 1 REVIEW GROUP. 2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 3 United States Multilateral Aid Review Peer Review Group 4 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Peer Review Group’’). 5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 6 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Peer Review Group 7 shall be composed of 8 nongovernmental volunteer 8 members, of whom— 9 (A) two shall be appointed by the majority 10 leader of the Senate; 11 (B) two shall be appointed by the minority 12 leader of the Senate; 13 (C) two shall be appointed by the Speaker 14 of the House of Representatives; and 15 (D) two shall be appointed by the minority 16 leader of the House of Representatives. 17 (2) APPOINTMENT CRITERIA.—The members of 18 the Peer Review Group shall have appropriate exper- 19 tise and knowledge of the multilateral entities sub- 20 ject to the Review established by this Act. In making 21 appointments to the Peer Review Group, potential 22 conflicts of interest should be taken into account. 23 (3) DATE.—The initial appointments of the 24 members of the Peer Review Group shall be made 25 not later than 100 days after the date of the enact- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 2299 IH ment of this Act, and the terms of such appoint- 1 ments shall begin on that date. 2 (4) CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN.—The Peer 3 Review Group shall select a Chairman and Vice 4 Chairman from among the members of the Peer Re- 5 view Group. 6 (c) EXPERT ANALYSIS.—The Peer Review Group 7 shall meet regularly with the Task Force, including re- 8 garding the initial review of methodology, to offer their 9 expertise of the funding and performance of multilateral 10 entities. 11 (d) REVIEW OF REPORT.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days be- 13 fore submitting each report required under section 14 6(a), the Task Force shall transmit a draft of the 15 report to the Peer Review Group and the appro- 16 priate congressional committees. 17 (2) REVIEW.—The Peer Review Group shall re- 18 view the draft report submitted under paragraph (1) 19 and provide to the Task Force and the appropriate 20 congressional committees not later than 90 days be- 21 fore the submission of each report required under 22 section 6(a) the following: 23 (A) An analysis of the conclusions of the 24 report. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2299.IH H2299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 2299 IH (B) An analysis of the established meth- 1 odologies used to reach conclusions in the re- 2 port. 3 (C) An analysis of the evidence used to 4 reach conclusions in the report. 5 (D) Any additional comments to improve 6 the evaluations and analysis of the report. 7 (e) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Peer 9 Review Group shall be appointed for a 6-year term 10 and may be reappointed under subsection (b)(1) for 11 one additional term. 12 (2) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Peer Re- 13 view Group— 14 (A) shall not affect the powers of the Peer 15 Review Group; and 16 (B) shall be filled in the same manner as 17 the original appointment. 18 (f) MEETINGS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Peer Review Group 20 shall meet at [Text truncated for display. 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