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Week Ending April 20, 2006

H.R.619 To prohibit the application of certain restrictive eligibility requirements to foreign nongovernmental organizations with respect to the provision of assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) would be provided with US foreign assistance funds under this bill and the foreign NGOs may use the funds to advocate and lobby to the extent that US NGOs are allowed to use the funds for those purposes.

The bill loosens up qualifications for sending money to foreign nongovernmental organizations such as Israel’s version of the Red Cross and Palestine’s version, the Red Crescent Society. There are thousands of international NGOs operating around the world.

This bill allows US funds to help those organizations, particularly in the areas of medical aid and counseling as long as the effort does not violate US laws or those of the country in which the NGI is operating.

The provision for use of the funds for advocacy and lobbying is not thoroughly defined in the bill.

Sponsor:  Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-NY-18^th)

Vote: To be considered

Cost to the taxpayers: The bill does not appropriate funds, only authorizes future spending.

Earmark Certification:   Not applicable to this bill.

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The Congress finds the following:

(1) It is a fundamental principle of American medical ethics and practice that health care providers should, at all times, deal honestly and openly with patients. Any attempt to subvert the private and sensitive physician-patient relationship would be intolerable in the United States and is an unjustifiable intrusion into the practices of health care providers when attempted in other countries.

(2) Freedom of speech is a fundamental American value. The ability to exercise the right to free speech, which includes the `right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances' is essential to a thriving democracy and is protected under the United States Constitution.

(3) The promotion of democracy is a principal goal of United States foreign policy and critical to achieving sustainable development. It is enhanced through the encouragement of democratic institutions and the promotion of an independent and politically active civil society in developing countries.

(4) Limiting eligibility for United States development and humanitarian assistance upon the willingness of a foreign nongovernmental organization to forgo its right to use its own funds to address, within the democratic process, a particular issue affecting the citizens of its own country directly undermines a key goal of United States foreign policy and would violate the United States Constitution if applied to United States-based organizations.

(5) Similarly, limiting the eligibility for United States assistance on a foreign nongovernmental organization's willingness to forgo its right to provide, with its own funds, medical services that are legal in its own country and would be legal if provided in the United States constitutes unjustifiable interference with the ability of independent organizations to serve the critical health needs of their fellow citizens and demonstrates a disregard and disrespect for the laws of sovereign nations as well as for the laws of the United States.

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