[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4025 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4025
To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees to serve as
chiefs of missions, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 7, 2022
Mr. Kaine (for himself and Mr. Booker) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees to serve as
chiefs of missions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Ambassador Oversight and
Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES REQUIRED WITH RESPECT TO NOMINEES.
Section 304 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3944) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(4), by adding at the end the
following: ``Each such report shall explain the source and the
extent of such nominee's knowledge of the principal language or
dialect of the country, region, or institution in which the
nominee has been nominated to serve as chief of mission and the
manner and extent to which such nominee meets the criteria
described in paragraph (1), particularly with respect to the
source and extent of such individual's knowledge and
understanding of the history, culture, economics, politics, and
interests of the people of such country, region, or
institution.''; and
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by striking ``Each'' and inserting the
following: ``(A) In this paragraph--
``(i) the term `bundled contribution' has the meaning given
such term in section 304(i)(8)(A) of the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(i)(8)(A));
``(ii) the term `contribution' has the meaning given such
term in section 301(8) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(8)); and
``(iii) the term `immediate family' means--
``(I) the spouse of the nominee;
``(II) any child, parent, grandparent, brother, or
sister of the nominee; and
``(III) the spouse of any of the individuals
described in subclause (II).
``(B) Each'';
(ii) in subparagraph (B), as redesignated,
by striking ``fourth calendar year'' and
inserting ``tenth calendar year'';
(iii) by striking ``The report'' and
inserting the following:
``(C) The report shall include the disclosure of all bundled
contributions facilitated by the nominee during the period described in
subparagraph (B), in accordance with section 304(i)(8) of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(i)(8)), and'';
(iv) by striking ``The chairman'' and
inserting the following:
``(D) The chairman'';
(v) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated,
by adding at the end the following: ``The
Secretary of State shall publish each such
report and each `Certificate of Competency'
issued pursuant to subsection (a)(4)(A) on a
publicly available website of the Department of
State.''; and
(vi) by striking ``As used in this
paragraph'' and all that follows; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) The President shall certify to the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate that any contributions made by each individual
nominated to be a chief of mission or members of the nominee's
immediate family, whether or not included in the report described in
paragraph (2), played no role in such nomination.''.
SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENTS AT DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS.
(a) In General.--Beginning not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall annually
conduct, at each diplomatic and consular post, a universal survey,
which shall be completed by all staff assigned to that post who are
citizens of the United States (excluding the chief of mission) to
assess the management and leadership of that post by the chief of
mission.
(b) Anonymity.--All responses to the survey shall be anonymized
before being made available to the relevant regional assistant
secretary of the Department of State and the Director General of the
Foreign Service.
(c) Referral.--If corrective action does not resolve deficiencies
in performance by the chief of mission identified by the survey, the
Director General of the Foreign Service may refer the matter to the
Inspector General of the Department of State, who shall conduct an
inspection of the post in accordance with section 209(b) of the Foreign
Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3929(b)).
(d) Annual Report.--The Director General of the Foreign Service
shall submit an annual report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives that--
(1) identifies the posts at which corrective action was
taken as a result of responses from a survey described in
subsection (a);
(2) describes the performance deficiencies identified by
the survey and the corrective action taken to remediate such
deficiencies; and
(3) explains the reasons for not referring the matter to
the Inspector General of the Department of State and the
Foreign Service.
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