International Development Assistance Act

Summary

International Development Assistance Act - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to declare that a principal objective of U.S. foreign policy is the encouragement and sustained support of the development efforts of people in developing countries. States that U.S. development policy should emphasize four principal goals: (1) alleviation of poverty; (2) promotion of self-sustaining growth; (3) encouragement of societies in which individual civil and economic rights are respected; and (4) integration of developing countries into an open international economic system. Stipulates that pursuit of these goals requires that development concerns be fully reflected in U.S. foreign policy. Sets forth a development assistance policy which recognizes that developing countries have a long-term need for external assistance. Directs that provision of development resources be adapted to the needs and capabilities of specific developing countries with low per capita incomes and limited access to private external capital being made on concessional terms and that for other developing countries consisting of programs which facilitate access to private capital markets, investment and technical skills. Amends such Act to solidate the President's existing authorities to furnish assistance. Repeals certain conditions pertaining to development loans and provides that the President shall determine the terms and conditions of development loans. Requires the President to consider the economic circumstances of the borrowing country and other relevant factors. States as a Congressional finding that participation of the rural and urban poor in their countries' development can be facilitated through increased activities by private and voluntary organizations and cooperatives. Encourages a greater utilization of such organizations in planning projects and in carrying out and development activities using U.S. funds. Revises provisions of such Act authorizing use of development assistance funds to pay transportation charges from U.S. ports to foreign countries of relief and rehabilitation shipments made by certain U.S. voluntary nonprofit relief agencies. Repeals various provisions pertaining to: (1) the development loan fund; (2) the purposes of development assistance and self-help criteria; (3) technical cooperation and development grants; (4) loans to small farmers; (5) programs for peaceful communication; (6) assistance for reopening the Suez Canal; (7) assistance for the Alliance of Progress; and (8) Southeast Asia multilateral and regional programs. Authorizes the appropriation fo $665,231,000 for fiscal year 1979 to alleviate starvation, hunger and malnutrition and to provide basic services to poor people by increasing their capacity for self-help. States that infrastructure projects should be complemented by other measures to insure that the benefits of the infrastruture projects reach the poor. Directs increased emphasis on rural development and expanded food production in the poorest nations as a matter of social justice and principal element contributing to broadly based economic growth, as well as an important factor in alleviating inflation in the industrialized countries. Requires that, in allocating agricultural production in countries which have been designated as least developed by the United Nations General Assembly. Encourages the President to devise and carry out in partnership with developing nations a strategy for programs of nutrition and health improvement for mothers and children, including breast feeding, and to provide technical, financial and materials support to individuals or groups at the local level for such programs. Authorizes the appropriation of $224,745,000 for population planning, $4,500,000 of which is earmarked for the World Health Organization's (HHO) Special Program of Research, Development, and Research Training in Human Reproduction. Declares that poor health conditions and uncontrolled population growth are deterimental to development efforts and that effective population programs depend upon economic and social change as well as the delivery of contraceptive services. Authorizes the President to provide assistance for voluntary population planning programs, such programs to emphasize motivation for small families, be coordinated with other development programs, provide family planning information and services and include directly relevant demographic research. Authorizes the President to furnish assistance for health, health education, disease prevention, environmental sanitation, programs relating to primary health care, health technology, pharmaceutical preparations, dissemination of relevant health research and development of health care professionals appropriate to serve the poor majority in developing countries. Authorizes the appropriation for fiscal year 1979 of: (1) $98,162,000 for activities in the fields of education, human resources development and public administration; and (2) $126,244,000 for the Selected Development Problems Account. Directs that up to $10,000,000 be made available each fiscal year to encourage and promote the participation and integration of women as equal partners in the development process. Requires the President to take into consideration the environmental consequences of development actions in carrying out development assistance programs and to furnish assistance to increase the capacity of less developed countries to protect and manage their natural resources. Encourages the President to make development assistance available on a grant basis to the relatively least developed countries to the maximum extent that is consistent with United States development objectives. Authorizes the President to: (1) permit a relatively least developed country to place amounts due as principal and interest on official debts to the United States into local currency accounts to be used for development projects; (2) waive certain interest payments from such a country; and (3) exempt such a country from specified cost-sharing and maximum grant program duration requirements. Directs the Administrator of the Agency for International Development to improve the assessment and evaluation of development programs and projects carried out under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Requires the President to report on actions taken by international financial institutions and the United Nations Development Program to improve the evaluation of projects and programs conducted by those institutions. Authorizes the appropriation of funds for the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program for fiscal year 1979. Revises the general policy statement and authorizing language for the Housing Guarantee program. Establishes a single authorization for the worldwide housing guarantee program and a new list of the types of programs which should be emphasized: (1) improved home sites on which poor families can build shelters; (2) expandable core shelter units on serviced sites; (3) slum upgrading; (4) shelter projects for low income people designed for demonstration or institution building purposes; and (5) community facilities and services in support of such projects. Requires consideration of the use of solar energy in housing projects which are assisted by Housing Guarantees program. Extends authority for Agricultural and Productive Credit and Self-Help Community Development Programs to September 30, 1979. Authorizes appropriations of $290,150,000 for International Organizations and Program for fiscal year 1979, and authorizes the appropriation of $1,000,000 for a voluntary contribution to a World Assembly on Aging. Increases the amounts authorized to be made available to the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East on the condition that the organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries matches any increase. Makes $5,000,000 available without fiscal year limitation for a contribution to a Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Trust Fund to be administered by the United Nations Development Program. Authorizes the appropriation of $25,000,000 for international disaster assistance in fiscal year 1979. States that disaster assistance to Turkey may be used for the purchase of scientific equipment designed to minimize the effects of future disasters. Requires the Chairman of the Development Coordination Committee to transmit to the Congress not later than February 1, of each year a report on foreign assistance for the fiscal year ending the previous September 30 and a report on programs and estimates for the current succeeding fiscal years. Repeals certain existing reporting requirements. Establishes an Office of the Auditor General of the Agency for International Developments Authorizes appropriations of funds for: (1) stimulating reimbursable development programs; and (2) Agency for International Development operating expenses. Repeals various sections of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 which largely deal with budget authority for previous fiscal years, completed programs, and activities that are subsumed under revised programs established under this Act.

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2 official files

• Indefinitely postponed in Senate

  summary · EN · 26 June 1978

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 15 May 1978

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