The Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S.1524) was introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Bob Corker (R-TN), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jim Risch (R-ID). Read a summary of S.1524 »
The bill complements the efforts of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA-28) and his initial aid reform bill, H.R. 2139.
Below is a comparison of the House and Senate foreign aid reform bills.
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H.R. 2139 The Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act
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S. 1524 The Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act
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Poverty and Hunger as U.S. Policy
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Does not address
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Makes it the policy of the U.S. to “promote global development, good governance, and the reduction of poverty and hunger” and initiates a reform process in support of this policy.
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National Strategy for Global Development
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Requires the President to develop and implement on an interagency basis a comprehensive national strategy for global development.
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Does not address
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| Monitoring & Evaluation |
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Requires each U.S. department and agency carrying out foreign assistance to develop a system to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of its assistance programs.
- Establishes a foreign assistance evaluation advisory council in order to provide assistance with coordinating and facilitating U.S. foreign assistance evaluation.
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Establishes an independent Council on Research and Evaluation of Foreign Assistance (CORE) to evaluate the impact of foreign assistance programs across government agencies.
- Sets up an Office for Learning, Evaluation and Analysis in Development at USAID.
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Reinstitution of Policy and Planning Capacity at USAID
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Does not address
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Establishes a Bureau for Policy and Strategic Planning, whose primary duties include developing and formulating U.S. development policy, ensuring long-term strategic planning, and conducting research and evaluation on development and aid effectiveness.
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Establishes a second Deputy Administrator position at USAID as well as an Asst Administrator for Policy and Strategic Planning
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Transparency
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Requires the President to make publicly available all information on U.S. foreign assistance on a program-by-program and country-by-country basis.
- Encourages the President to engage with and participate in the International Aid Transparency Initiative, established at the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
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Requires the President to make publicly available all information on U.S. foreign assistance on a program-by-program and country-by-country basis.
- Encourages the President to engage with and participate in the International Aid Transparency Initiative, established at the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
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Human resources
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Does not address
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Requires the USAID Administrator to develop and implement a comprehensive workforce and human resources strategy for USAID
- Establish a USAID workforce and human resources task force and encourage rotational assignments.
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Field Coordination
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Does not address
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Requires that the chief of each development mission is responsible for coordination of all development and humanitarian efforts of the U.S. in a particular country.
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Operating Expenses
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Does not address
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Authorizes program funds to be used for travel expenses, salaries and related expenses, and costs associated with research and policy analysis in support of programs.
- Requires USAID to investigate how the agency can streamline and improve the efficiency of operating expenses.
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Authorization of Funds
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Includes no new authorization of funds
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Includes authorization of funds for new CORE body.
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