Abiding by United States Commitments Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4546 To provide for the prompt payment of United States assessed contributions to international organizations, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. REED, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To provide for the prompt payment of United States assessed contributions to international organizations, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Abiding by United 4 States Commitments Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:03 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4546.IS S4546 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4546 IS (1) COVID–19 has killed United States citizens 1 at six times the average rate of other high-income 2 countries. 3 (2) The United States records eight times the 4 number of infections of other high-income countries. 5 (3) United States citizens are barred from en- 6 tering dozens of countries, including allies, due to 7 the Administration’s inability to contain the spread 8 of COVID–19 in the United States. 9 (4) On June 25, 2020, the Senate unanimously 10 passed Senate Resolution 579, recognizing historic 11 United States leadership and international achieve- 12 ments to address global health threats, encouraging 13 the international community to remain committed to 14 preventing the further spread of COVID–19, and 15 urging the United States to participate in and sup- 16 port global efforts to address COVID–19. 17 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 18 It is the sense of Congress that— 19 (1) the United States should participate in 20 global public-private efforts to develop, manufacture, 21 and equitably distribute a vaccine for COVID–19, 22 including in the COVID–19 Vaccines Global Access 23 (COVAX) Facility, which aims to speed vaccine de- 24 velopment, mitigate risk, secure doses for all coun- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:03 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4546.IS S4546 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4546 IS tries, and distribute them to the most high-risk seg- 1 ment of each population; and 2 (2) the suspension of United States support for 3 the World Health Organization (WHO) and other 4 efforts to discredit the WHO are deeply concerning 5 and will have an adverse impact on efforts to ad- 6 dress the COVID–19 pandemic. 7 SEC. 4. PAYMENT OF UNITED STATES ASSESSED CONTRIBU- 8 TIONS TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 11 shall use amounts appropriated or otherwise made avail- 12 able to the Department of State for fiscal year 2020 in 13 any appropriations Act under the heading ‘‘Contributions 14 to International Organizations’’ to pay the full fiscal year 15 2020 United States assessment for each international or- 16 ganization funded under that heading. 17 (b) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION.—Of the 18 amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to the 19 Department of State for fiscal year 2020 for ‘‘Contribu- 20 tions to International Organizations’’, $118,949,000 shall 21 be made available not later than 60 days after the date 22 of enactment of this Act for the World Health Organiza- 23 tion for COVID–19 response. Such funds may not be 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:03 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4546.IS S4546 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4546 IS made available for advance payment to withdraw the 1 United States from the World Health Organization. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:03 Sep 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4546.IS S4546 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS