[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4516 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4516
To require the Secretary of State to ensure that commodities procured
for the purpose of foreign assistance are made available to intended
beneficiaries before such commodities expire, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 17, 2025
Mr. Meeks (for himself, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Ms. Meng, Mr. Amo,
Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Nadler, and Ms. Williams of Georgia) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of State to ensure that commodities procured
for the purpose of foreign assistance are made available to intended
beneficiaries before such commodities expire, 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 ``Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Foreign assistance commodities, including food,
medicine, family planning products, and vaccines, provide
critical support to people who are recovering from the
aftermath of natural disasters, fleeing conflict or war,
residing in refugee camps, or living in developing communities
with limited access to health care.
(2) United States investments in global health bolster
economic growth for partner countries, produce returns on
investment for the United States economy, create an estimated
600,000 jobs in the United States, and generated an estimated
$104,000,000,000 in economic activity during the 15-year period
between 2007 and 2022.
(3) Reliable access to vaccines and medications, including
pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiretroviral drugs to prevent
the spread of HIV and vaccines to prevent the transmission of
communicable diseases such as polio and drug-resistant
tuberculosis, makes everyone safer.
(4) United States food assistance benefits United States
farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses, while addressing global
food insecurity. United States farmers annually supply an
estimated 40 percent of all international food assistance,
which is valued at approximately $2,000,000,000.
(5) Greater access to family planning products and services
has the potential to prevent up to 30 percent of the 295,000
annual maternal deaths and save the lives of approximately
1,400,000 children who are younger than 5 years old.
(6) The voluntary destruction of foreign assistance
commodities intended for beneficiaries at risk of food
insecurity and famine, sexual violence, maternal and infant
death and disease is unethical and contrary to United States
interests and moral obligations.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON THE DESTRUCTION OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PRODUCTS
AND COMMODITIES.
Section 102 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151-
1) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the following:
``(18) Perishable and nonperishable foreign assistance
commodities and products, including medicine, vaccines, medical
devices, food, and food commodities that are procured, managed,
controlled, or held in warehouses, ships, shipping containers,
or any other storage facility, by the United States Government
or by a foreign assistance implementing partner of the United
States Government shall be made available to intended
beneficiaries, including through donation, for their intended
purpose and before the date on which such commodities and
products spoil or expire.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(d)(1) If any commodity is in the possession or control of a
foreign assistance implementing partner of the United States, the
Secretary of State, the Secretary of Agriculture, or the Administrator
of the United States Agency for International Development, as
appropriate, shall, on an expedited basis, release such funds as may be
necessary to ensure the delivery or donation of the commodity to the
intended beneficiaries before the date the commodity spoils or expires.
``(2) No commodity may be destroyed unless every effort has been
made to sell, donate, or otherwise make the commodity available
(whichever is more likely to ensure the commodity will be received and
used by the intended beneficiaries) before the date the commodity
spoils or expires.
``(3)(A) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of
the Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars Act, and annually thereafter, the
Secretary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of the
United States Agency for International Development and the Secretary of
Agriculture, as appropriate, shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report that describes any commodity that,
during the year prior to the date of the submission of the report
expired, spoiled, or was destroyed prior to the delivery of such
commodity to an intended beneficiary.
``(B) Each report required by subparagraph (A) shall include, for
each expired, spoiled, or destroyed commodity described--
``(i) a description of all negotiations, plans, and efforts
to make the commodity available to the intended beneficiaries;
``(ii) the reason the commodity was not made available to
the intended beneficiaries;
``(iii) the intended purpose of the commodity;
``(iv) a list of the geographic locations of all intended
beneficiaries of the commodity, by country or region, as
appropriate;
``(v) the procured and market value of the commodity; and
``(vi) the cost incurred to destroy or dispose of the
commodity.
``(4) In this subsection--
``(A) the term `appropriate congressional committees'
means--
``(i) the Committee on Appropriations and the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
``(ii) the Committee on Appropriations and the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
``(B) the term `commodity' means a perishable or
nonperishable commodity or product (including medicine,
vaccines, medical devices, food, and food commodities) that is
procured, managed, controlled, or held in warehouses, ships,
shipping containers, or any other storage facility, by the
United States Government or by a foreign assistance
implementing partner of the United States Government for the
purpose of providing foreign assistance.''.
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