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United States · Law · HR

H.R. 2159 (105th)

Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1998

enactedUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

14 July 1997

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Status

Became Public Law No: 105-118.

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23 April 2026

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Summary

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Export and Investment Assistance Title II: Bilateral Economic Assistance Title III: Military Assistance Title IV: Multilateral Economic Assistance Title V: General Provisions Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1998 - Title I: Export and Investment Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 1998 for: (1) direct loans, loan guarantees, tied-aid grants, insurance, and administrative expenses under Export-Import Bank programs; (2) Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) credit and insurance programs, including administrative expenses; and (3) the Trade and Development Agency. Title II: Bilateral Economic Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 1998 for: (1) expenses of the President in carrying out certain programs under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; (2) the Agency for International Development (AID) for child survival and disease programs, including basic education programs; (3) specified development assistance (allowing availability of limited amounts for the Inter-American Foundation and the African Development Foundation); (4) private and voluntary organizations; (5) international disaster assistance; (6) debt restructuring; (7) micro and small enterprise development programs; (8) guaranteed loans for the urban and environmental credit program; (9) the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund; (10) operating expenses of AID and the AID Office of Inspector General; (11) Economic Support Fund (ESF) assistance (earmarking amounts for Israel and Egypt); (12) the International Fund for Ireland; (13) economic assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States (earmarking amounts for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but with a prohibition on funds for new housing construction or repair or reconstruction of existing housing in Bosnia and Herzegovina unless directly related to U.S. troop efforts to promote peace there); (14) assistance for the new independent states of the former Soviet Union (subject to specified conditions); (15) the Inter-American Foundation; (16) the African Development Foundation; (17) the Peace Corps (but with a prohibition on the use of such funds for abortions); (18) international narcotics control; (19) migration and refugee assistance; (20) a targeted program for refugee resettlement assistance; (21) the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund; and (22) nonproliferation, anti-terrorism and related programs and activities. Bars the use of development assistance funds for: (1) coercive abortions or involuntary sterilizations; and (2) U.S. private and voluntary organizations which obtain less than 20 percent of annual funding from sources other than the U.S. Government. Prohibits funds to: (1) Russia unless the President certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that it has terminated arrangements to provide Iran with technology to develop a nuclear program; (2) the Government of Ukraine if the President reports to the Committee on Appropriations that it is engaged in military cooperation with Libya; and (3) the Government of Azerbaijan until the President reports to the Congress that it has ceased all blockades against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Title III: Military Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 1996 for: (1) international military education and training (earmarking amounts for Indonesia and Guatemala, with a bar on such assistance to the School of the Americas unless certain conditions are met); (2) foreign military financing and direct loans (earmarking amounts for Israel, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey); and (3) international peacekeeping operations (subject to notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations). Prohibits foreign military financing for: (1) any non-NATO country participating in the Partnership for Peace Program except through the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations; and (2) Sudan, Liberia, and Guatemala. Title IV: Multilateral Economic Assistance - Makes appropriations for FY 1998 for the U.S. contribution to the: (1) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank); (2) International Development Association; (3) Inter-American Development Bank; (4) Asian Development Bank; (5) Asian Development Fund; (6) African Development Fund; (7) European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and (8) North American Development Bank. Makes appropriations for FY 1998 for international programs and organizations. Sets certain restrictions on international organization funding, including prohibiting the use of funds made available to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for activities in China. Prohibits the use of funds for: (1) the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO); (2) the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); or (3) the United Nations development group or any similar organization. Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth limits on the use of appropriations, including no more than: (1) 15 percent of such appropriations to be obligated during the last month of availability; and (2) specified maximums for official residence expenses, entertainment expenses, and representation allowances for AID, and for entertainment and representation allowances for the Inter-American Foundation and the Trade and Development Agency. Limits the use of funds for entertainment expenses of the Peace Corps, or under the Foreign Military Financing Program. (Sec. 502) Prohibits the use of funds for: (1) bilateral funding of international financial institutions; (2) the export of nuclear equipment, fuel, or technology (except for nuclear safety purposes); (3) direct assistance or reparations to Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, or Syria; (4) assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree; (5) certain transfers between appropriations accounts without prior presidential consultation with Congress; (6) assistance to any country in default in excess of a year on payments on a U.S. loan (except for Nicaragua and Liberia, and narcotics-related assistance for Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru); and (7) assistance (except in certain circumstances) for production of any commodity for export by a foreign country, if the commodity is likely to be in surplus on world markets when the resulting productive capacity is expected to become operative, and if the assistance will injure U.S. producers of a similar commodity. (Sec. 514) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Directors of specified international financial institutions to oppose any assistance for the production or extraction of any commodity or mineral for export if it is in surplus on world markets and such assistance will cause substantial injury to U.S. producers of a similar commodity. (Sec. 516) Prohibits the use of international organization funds for Libya, Iran, or certain Communist countries. (Sec. 517) Declares it is U.S. policy that appropriations for ESF funds allocated to Israel shall not be less than the annual debt repayment from Israel to the United States. (Sec. 518) Prohibits the use of development assistance funds for abortions or involuntary sterilizations as methods of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions, or provide any financial incentive to undergo sterilization. (Sec. 518A) Sets forth certain limitations on the authorization of funds for population planning activities or other population assistance. (Sec. 519) Requires the President to report to the Committees on Appropriations on annual arms sales proposals covering major weapons under the Arms Export Control Act. (Sec. 520) Prohibits the use of funds for Colombia, Haiti, Liberia, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Russia, Serbia, Sudan, or the Democratic Republic of Congo except through the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 522) Makes funds available to AID for family planning, health, child survival, and AIDS research and control in developing countries. (Sec. 523) Bars funding for indirect assistance or reparations to Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Syria, North Korea, or China unless the President certifies that the withholding of such funds is contrary to the U.S. national security interest. (Sec. 524) Amends the Arms Export Control Act to extend the President's waiver authority with respect to reciprocal leasing through FY 1998. (Sec. 525) Requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to notify the Committees on Appropriations before providing excess DOD articles to certain NATO and major non-NATO countries. (Sec. 527) Prohibits bilateral assistance funds to any country which the President determines grants sanctuary from prosecution to any individual or group which has committed an act of international terrorism or otherwise supports such activities. Authorizes a waiver by the President for national security and humanitarian reasons, requiring notification to the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 528) Authorizes the commercial leasing of defense articles (instead of government-to-government sale) to Israel, Egypt, NATO, and major non-NATO allies if the President determines that there are compelling foreign policy or national security reasons. (Sec. 528A) Requires all AID contracts and subcontracts to include a clause requiring that U.S. insurance companies have a fair opportunity to bid for insurance when insurance is necessary or appropriate. (Sec. 529) Prohibits U.S. sale of Stinger missiles in the Persian Gulf region, with certain exceptions. (Sec. 530) Authorizes nongovernmental organizations which are AID grantees or contractors to place funds made available to them under this Act in interest bearing accounts in order to enhance their participation in economic activities under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, including endowments and debt-for-development and debt-for-nature exchanges. (Sec. 531) Directs the Administrator of AID to require foreign countries that receive foreign assistance which results in the generation of local currencies to deposit such currencies in a separate account to be used to finance foreign assistance activities. (Sec. 532) Prohibits payments to any international financial institution while the U.S. Executive Director to the institution is compensated at a rate in excess of that for a specified position under the Executive Schedule. (Sec. 533) Bars assistance to any country that is not in compliance with the United Nations (UN) sanctions against Iraq unless the President certifies to the Congress that such assistance: (1) is in the U.S. national interest; (2) will directly benefit the needy people in that country; or (3) will be humanitarian assistance for foreign nationals who have fled Iraq and Kuwait. (Sec. 535) Extends the authority to obligate funds to close the Special Defense Acquisition Fund. (Sec. 536) Requires notification to the Committees on Appropriations of each country that has been approved for cash flow financing for the procurement of defense articles in excess of $100 million. (Sec. 537) Declares that provisions under this or any other Act authorizing appropriations for foreign operations or export financing shall not be construed to prohibit activities authorized by the Peace Corps Act, the Inter-American Foundation Act, or the African Development Foundation Act. Requires an agency to report to the Committees on Appropriations whenever it is conducting or proposing activities in a country for which such assistance is prohibited. (Sec. 538) Prohibits the use of funds to provide: (1) any financial incentive to a business for purposes of inducing it to relocate outside the United States if it will reduce the number of employees in the United States; (2) assistance for establishing or developing in a foreign country an export processing zone or other designated area in which a country's tax, tariff, labor, environment, and safety laws do not apply to activities in the area, unless the President certifies that such assistance is not likely to cause a loss of U.S. jobs; or (3) assistance for any project that contributes to the violation of internationally recognized workers rights in the recipient country. (Sec. 539) Declares that no sanction, prohibition, or restriction against Serbia or Montenegro shall cease to be effective, unless: (1) the President submits to the Congress a specified certification with respect to human rights and progress toward self-determination in Kosova; and (2) certain requirements are met. (Sec. 540) Declares that funds appropriated under this Act for Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Cambodia, and for victims of war, displaced children, displaced Burmese, humanitarian assistance for Romania, and humanitarian assistance for the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosova, may be made available notwithstanding any other provision of law. Authorizes the use of foreign assistance funds to support: (1) tropical forestry and energy programs aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases; and (2) biodiversity conservation activities. Authorizes AID to employ personal services contractors to administer programs for the West Bank and Gaza. (Sec. 541) Expresses the sense of the Congress with respect to: (1) immediate public renunciation by Arab League countries of the boycott of Israel (reinstated in 1997) and of American firms having commercial ties with Israel; and (2) steps the President should take to encourage such renunciation. (Sec. 542) Authorizes the use of ESF funds to strengthen the administration of justice in countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in other regions. Allows such use of ESF funds (including for anti-narcotics activities) for Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, notwithstanding specified provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. (Sec. 543) Declares that restrictions on assistance to foreign countries contained in this Act or any other Act (except those relating to international terrorism or human rights violations) shall not be construed to restrict assistance: (1) in support of certain programs of nongovernmental organizations; or (2) under specified provisions of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. (Sec. 544) Authorizes the reprogramming of earmarked appropriations for other programs within the same account, provided certain requirements are met. (Sec. 546) Prohibits the use of funds for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States that were not authorized before the enactment of this Act. Makes specified funds available to private and voluntary organizations to deal with world hunger problems abroad. (Sec. 547) States that assistance under this Act should make full use of American resources, including commodities, products, and services, to the maximum extent possible. (Sec. 548) Prohibits the use of funds to pay any assessments, arrearages, or dues of any U.N. member. (Sec. 550) Prohibits the provision of funds to a private voluntary organization that fails to provide any document, file, or record necessary to the auditing requirements of AID. (Sec. 551) Prohibits the provision of funds to any foreign government that provides lethal military equipment to a country that the Secretary of State has determined has a terrorist government, unless the President determines that the furnishing of such assistance is in the U.S. national interest. (Sec. 552) Withholds assistance to a foreign country in an amount equal to 110 percent of the total unpaid parking fines and penalties owed by the country to the District of Columbia. (Sec. 553) Prohibits the obligation of any appropriations for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for the West Bank and Gaza unless the President has exercised certain authorities to suspend prohibitions on assistance to the PLO. (Sec. 555) Permits the President to provide up to a specified amount of commodities and services to the UN War Crimes Tribunal if doing so will contribute to a resolution of charges regarding genocide or other violations of international law in the former Yugoslavia. (Sec. 556) Authorizes disposal on a grant basis in foreign countries of demining equipment used in support of the clearing of land mines and unexploded ordnance for humanitarian purposes. (Sec. 557) Prohibits the obligation of appropriations to create in Jerusalem a new U.S. agency office for the purpose of conducting U.S. business with the Palestinian Authority over Gaza and Jericho (or any successor Palestinian governing entity) provided for in the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles. (Sec. 558) Prohibits the obligation of certain funds appropriated for Informational Program activities to pay for: (1) alcoholic beverages; (2) food (other than food provided at a military installation) not provided in conjunction with Informational Program trips where students do not stay at a military installation; or (3) entertainment expenses for recreational activities. (Sec. 559) Limits the amount of certain foreign assistance funds to Latin America and the Caribbean region. (Sec. 560) Expresses the sense of the Congress that, to the greatest extent practicable, all equipment and products purchased with funds made available in this Act should be American-made. Requires Federal agency heads, in providing financial assistance to or entering into any contract with any entity using funds made available in this Act, to notify such entity of this intention. (Sec. 561) Prohibits the use of North American Development Bank funds for purposes other than those set out in the binational agreement. (Sec. 562) Authorizes appropriations, without fiscal year limitation, for the U.S. contribution to the eleventh replenishment of the resources of the International Development Association. (Sec. 563) Authorizes the President to reduce amounts owed to the United States by eligible countries as a result of: (1) housing guarantees made pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; or (2) credits extended or guarantees issued under the Arms Export Control Act. Permits exercise of such authority only: (1) to implement multilateral official debt relief and referendum agreements known as the Paris Club Agreed Minutes; and (2) with respect to countries with heavy debt burdens that are eligible to borrow from the International Development Association (but not from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) (IDA-only countries). Prescribes additional conditions for the exercise of such authority. (Sec. 564) Authorizes the President to engage in certain debt buybacks or sales. Authorizes sale, reduction, or cancellation of certain loans to foreign governments, upon receipt of payment from an eligible purchaser that plans to use such loans only for the purposes of engaging in debt-for-equity swaps, debt-for-development swaps, or debt-for-nature swaps. Limits such authority to funds appropriated by this Act under the heading of debt restructuring. (Sec. 565) Requires the President to determine and certify to the Congress that the Guatemalan military is cooperating with efforts to implement a peace settlement and resolve human rights abuses which elements of the Guatemalan military forces are alleged to have committed, ordered, or attempted to thwart the investigation of, as a condition for: (1) availability of any funds provided in this Act for the Guatemalan military forces; and (2) the lifting of restrictions on Guatemala under the heading Foreign Military Financing Program. Makes such condition inapplicable to funds made available to implement a cease-fire or peace agreement. Subjects any such funds to the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations. (Sec. 566) Provides for bilateral and multilateral assistance sanctions against countries harboring war criminals indicted with respect to Nazi Germany, the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. (Sec. 567) Prohibits provision to the Government of Haiti of any funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act until the President reports to Congress that such Government: (1) is conducting thorough investigations of extrajudicial and political killings that have taken place there since February 12, 1996; and (2) has completed privatization of, or placed under long-term private management contract, at least three major public enterprises. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to humanitarian, law enforcement, antinarcotics, or electoral assistance. Authorizes the President to waive such conditions on a semiannual basis upon determination and certification to the appropriate congressional committees that it is in the U.S. national interest. (Sec. 568) Requires a specified annual report of the Secretary of State containing the voting record of each foreign member country of the UN to include a side-by-side comparison of each country's overall support for the United States at the UN and the amount of U.S. assistance provided to it in FY 1997. (Sec. 569) Prohibits the U.S. from paying any voluntary contribution to the UN, including the UN Development Program, unless the President certifies to the Congress 15 days in advance of such payment that the UN is not engaged in any effort to implement or impose any taxation on U.S. persons in order to raise revenue for itself or any of its specialized agencies. (Sec. 570) Directs the Secretary to report to the Committee on Appropriations on the military forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. (Sec. 571) Limits the amount of ESF assistance to Turkey.

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