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A Summary of Us Foreign Assistance Legislation December 2008

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A Summary of Us Foreign Assistance Legislation December 2008 A SUMMARY OF U.S. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE LEGISLATION DECEMBER 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 1 II. OVERVIEW OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE LEGISLATION.................................................... 1 III. THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT – AN OVERVIEW.......................................................... 3 A. Part I............................................................................................................................. 3 1. Basic Human Needs:......................................................................................... 5 2. Economic Development:................................................................................... 6 3. Environment:.................................................................................................... 7 4. Other Priorities: ................................................................................................ 7 B. Part II............................................................................................................................ 9 C. Part III ........................................................................................................................ 10 D. Part IV ........................................................................................................................ 12 E. Part V.......................................................................................................................... 12 IV. SELECTED U.S. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE LEGISLATION AMENDING OR AFFECTING THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT ................................................................ 13 A. Acts Amending the Foreign Assistance Act ................................................................. 13 1. Arms Export Control Act ................................................................................ 13 2. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1969 – Inter-American Foundation.................. 14 3. International Development and Food Assistance Act Of 1975 ......................... 15 4. International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976 ......... 15 5. International Security Assistance Act of 1979 ................................................. 16 6. International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1980 – African Development Foundation ................................................................. 17 7. The International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1981............ 17 8. African Famine Relief and Recovery Act of 1985 ........................................... 18 9. International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1985................... 18 10. Support for East European Democracy (Seed) Act of 1989.............................. 19 11. Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Support Act of 1992 ......................................................................... 20 12. South African Democratic Transition Support Act of 1993.............................. 21 13. Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998....................................................... 21 14. International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 .................................................. 22 15. Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998................................................................. 22 16. Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999....................................................................... 23 17. African Growth and Opportunity Act .............................................................. 24 18. Global Aids and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000............................................ 24 TABLE OF CONTENTS 19. Microenterprise for Self-Reliance and International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000 ........................................................................................................... 25 20. Famine Prevention and Freedom from Hunger Improvement Act of 2000 ....... 26 21. Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 ........................... 27 22. United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003.................................................................................................... 28 23. Microenterprise Results and Accountability Act of 2004................................. 28 24. Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005..................................................................................... 29 25. Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005........................................ 30 B. Acts Affecting (But Not Amending) The Foreign Assistance Act................................. 30 1. Multilateral Development Bank Authorization Acts ........................................ 30 a. Bretton Woods Agreements Act ......................................................... 30 b. International Finance Corporation Act ................................................ 31 c. Inter-American Development Bank Act.............................................. 31 d. International Development Association Act........................................ 31 e. Asian Development Bank Act ............................................................ 31 f. African Development Fund Act.......................................................... 31 g. International Financial Institutions Act of 1977 .................................. 32 h. International Financial Institutions Act of 1980 .................................. 32 i. African Development Bank Act.......................................................... 32 2. Food for Peace Act (Public Law 480).............................................................. 32 3. Peace Corp Act............................................................................................... 34 4. Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962............................................... 35 5. Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 ................................................................. 35 C. Department Of Defense Foreign Assistance-Type Activities........................................ 37 1. Economic Assistance ...................................................................................... 37 2. Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance .................................................. 38 3. Military and Security Activities ...................................................................... 38 a. Military Training, Education and Equipping Activities ....................... 38 b. Counter-terrorism and Counter-proliferation....................................... 39 c. Counter-narcotics ............................................................................... 40 V. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZING PROVISIONS IN APPROPRIATIONS LAWS ..................................................................................................................................... 41 VI. LAWS ADDRESSING FOREIGN ASSISTANCE IN WHOLE OR IN PART..................... 47 I. INTRODUCTION United States foreign assistance laws of 2008 are broken and must be fixed. In order to meet twenty-first century challenges, twentieth century Cold War era legislation cannot continually be amended, modified or patched, but must instead be transformed. The U.S. must reform its framework for providing aid and assistance to meet the three mandates established by Congress and the President for the provision of such aid: national interest, national security and national values. This piece provides a brief history of United States foreign assistance legislation, including an in depth analysis of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (the “FAA”) and many of the most important amendments thereto that have been legislated over the past 47 years. We will also review important stand alone foreign assistance legislation to put that body of law in an appropriate perspective. In other articles we will review specific areas of the foreign assistance laws in the form of case studies to highlight these problems inherent in current foreign assistance legislation. Finally, using these analyses, we will highlight and explain the problems with U.S. foreign assistance legislation generally and the FAA in particular and we will make arguments as to why we believe that foreign assistance legislation needs to be reworked. II. OVERVIEW OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE LEGISLATION While there is no precise definition of what constitutes U.S. foreign assistance legislation, there are some general subject matter parameters that can be circumscribed. A brief history of U.S. foreign assistance programs may serve to illustrate the origins of the current compilation of programs in the existing legislation. U.S. foreign aid programs began in earnest shortly after World War II, as a response to the growing Cold War threat from the Soviet Union and its communist allies throughout the world.1 The well-known Marshall Plan to rebuild and stabilize war-ravaged Europe in the late 1940’s gradually gave way to other U.S. foreign assistance programs to encourage cooperation and alignment with the United States against the Soviet Union and newly-communist China. Over time, the focus of U.S. foreign aid in the 1950’s expanded to emphasize social and economic progress in developing nations, as both the U.S. and Soviet Union took a greater interest in poorer countries outside their immediate spheres of influence. As the U.S. shifted its aid focus to different recipient countries in
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