97th Congress > House > Vote 274
Description: TO PASS S. 1193, FISCAL YEARS 1982 AND 1983 AUTHORIZATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION AGENCY AND THE BOARD FOR INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING. (MOTION AGREED TO)
Bill summary: (Conference report filed in House, H. Rept. 97-693)
Title I: Department of State
- Department of State Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1982 and 1983 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1982 and 1983 for the Department of State to be used for: (1) administration of foreign affairs; (2) international organizations and conferences; (3) international commissions; and (4) migration and refugee assistance.
Prohibits using any of the funds available for the administration of foreign affairs to open
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new consulates until specified consulates are reopened. Earmarks a specified amount for operating and maintaining such consulates.
Limits the amount of any U.S. payment to the United Nations budget or to the budget of any specialized U.N. agency to an amount assessed as the U.S. contribution less 25 percent of the amount budgeted for projects whose primary purpose is to provide political benefits to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Directs the President to report annually to Congress on any such project.
Requires funds authorized for international organizations and conferences to be used to pay the U.S. contribution for calendar years 1982 and 1983 to the Organization of American States, the Pan American Health Organization, and to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.
Earmarks specified amounts for FY 1982 and 1983 for: (1) the International Committee of the Red Cross; and (2) assistance for refugees settling in Israel.
Expresses the opposition of Congress to efforts: (1) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to regulate news content and the operation of the world press; and (2) by some countries to control access to and dissemination of news. Requires the President to report, within a specified time, on U.S. contribution to and participation in UNESCO.
Prohibits using appropriated funds to pay the U.S. contribution to UNESCO if UNESCO implements a policy to: (1) license journalists or their publications; (2) restrict the free flow of information; or (3) impose mandatory journalistic codes. Directs the Secretary of State to report annually to Congress on whether UNESCO has taken any such action.
Authorizes appropriations for FY 1982 and 1983 for payment of the U.S. share of expenses of the science and technology agreements between the United States and Yugoslavia and the United States and Poland.
Authorizes appropriations for FY 1982 and 1983 for the Asia Foundation.
Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to authorize appropriations to maintain the level of State Department program activities despite foreign currency fluctuations or overseas wage and price changes. Authorizes establishing the Buying Power Maintenance account. Directs the Secretary to transfer funds between such account and other appropriations accounts to maintain the buying power of State Department programs by offsetting such fluctuations or changes.
Amends the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 and the Board for International Broadcasting Act of 1973 to authorize appropriations to offset foreign currency fluctuations or overseas wage and price changes in order to maintain the authorized level of expenditures for the International Communication Agency (ICA) and the Board for International Broadcasting.
Deletes the limitations under current laws on the authorized appropriations for payment of the U.S. share of the expenses of the: (1) Pan American Institute of Geography and History; (2) Hague Conference on Private International Law and of the International (Rome) Institute for the Unification of Private Law; and (3) Pan American Railway Congress.
Amends the passport provisions to authorize the Secretary of State to set the fees for issuing passports and for executing passport applications. Extends the duration of a passport's validity from five to ten years. Authorizes the Secretary to limit a passport's validity to a shorter period.
Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to make certain passports and reports issued to document citizens born abroad as effective in proving U.S. citizenship as certificates of naturalization.
Amends the United Nations Participation Act of 1945 to direct the President to appoint a U.S. representative to the Vienna office of the United Nations.
Provides for living quarters for certain U.S. representatives to the United Nations rather than only for the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Credits any payments made by U.S. personnel for such living quarters to the fund used by the Secretary to rent the premises.
Provides that the Federal criminal provisions relating to compensation, activities, disqualification, and acts affecting personal financial interests of Federal employees shall not apply to certain private sector representatives on U.S. delegations to international telecommunications conferences.
Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to allow for State Department and Foreign Service procurement contracts of up to five years, if: (1) appropriations are available and adequate for the first fiscal year and for potential cancellation costs; and (2) the Secretary makes specified determinations. Requires cancellation of a contract if funds are not available for its continuation.
Makes the provisions of the Defense Base Act relating to the compensation for disability or death for persons employed at military bases outside the United States inapplicable with respect to contracts with persons employed by the State Department or the Foreign Service on an intermittent basis.
Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to require that a principal duty of each chief of mission to a foreign country shall be the promotion of exports of U.S. goods and services.
Directs the President to prescribe the salary rates for each salary class of the Senior Foreign Service. Directs the Secretary of State to determine which of the basic salary rates shall be paid to each member of a salary class. Authorizes the Secretary to adjust the basic salary rate of a member of the Senior Foreign Service once a year. (Current law requires Presidential reappointment and Senate reconfirmation for a senior foreign service member moved from one pay level to another, even within a class.)
Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress within 90 days of enactment on the individual exchange activities conducted pursuant to certain scientific exchange agreements between the Soviet Union and the United States. Lists information to be included in the report. Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress an annual list of the names of Soviet students participating in such programs. Requires such report to include a determination that these programs will not jeapordize U.S. national security interests.
Title II: Foreign Missions
- Foreign Missions Act - Amends the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to declare that the treatment given to a foreign mission in the United States shall be determined by the Secretary after considering the treatment given U.S. missions in the country or territory represented by that foreign mission.
Directs the Secretary to establish an Office of Foreign Missions within the Department of State. Authorizes the Secretary to permit the Director of such Office to: (1) assist Federal, State, and municipal agencies to ascertain the benefits due a foreign mission; (2) provide benefits for or on behalf of a foreign mission; and (3) perform such other functions as the Secretary determines necessary.
Authorizes the Secretary to require a foreign mission (in order to obtain benefits from the Director or as a condition to the performance of certain contracts, the acquisition of real property, or the application for or acceptance of any benefit) to comply with certain terms, including paying the Director a fee and waiving any recourse against any governmental authority or employee. Authorizes such requirements if the Secretary determines they are necessary to: (1) facilitate relations between the U.S. and a sending state (a state represented by such mission); (2) protect U.S. interests; (3) adjust for costs and procedures of obtaining benefits for U.S. missions abroad; or (4) assist in resolving a dispute affecting U.S. interests. Authorizes the Secretary to designate an agent of a foreign mission to make a required waiver of recourse for the foreign mission.
States that this Act does not preclude or limit the authority of the U.S. Secret Service to provide protection for foreign missions.
Authorizes the Secretary to require a foreign mission to: (1) notify the Director before acquiring or disposing of real property; and (2) divest itself of or forgo the use of real property if such property was acquired without notice to the Director or exceeds the limits placed on real property available to U.S. missions in the sending state.
Authorizes the Secretary to protect and dispose of any property of a foreign mission which has ceased conducting governmental activities and has not designated a protecting power.
Makes the location, replacement, or expansion of chanceries in the District of Columbia subject to this Act.
Permits a chancery to locate as a matter of right in any area which is zoned commercial, industrial, waterfront, or mixed use.
Authorizes chanceries to be located in other areas subject to the disapproval of the District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment. Sets forth the procedure and criteria for locating chanceries in such areas.
Declares that no act of any Federal agency shall preempt provisions of this title with respect to benefits conferred or denied to foreign missions. Provides that a denial by the Secretary involving a benefit for a foreign mission within a State or local jurisdiction shall be controlling.
Provides for the administration and management of this Act. Makes the provisions of this Act applicable to public international organizations and their official missions. Prohibits compliance with this Act from being deemed a waiver of immunity. Prohibits conferring or denying benefits to foreign missions contrary to this Act. Makes funds in the State Department working capital fund available to pay expenses to carry out provisions relating to foreign missions.
Amends the Diplomatic Relations Act to extend the privileges and immunities of the Vienna Convention to missions of nonparties to the Convention. Authorizes the President to extend to such missions treatment that is more favorable or less favorable than that provided under the Vienna Convention.
Title III: United States Information Agency
- United States Information Agency Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1982 and 1983 - Changes the name of the International Communication Agency to the United States Information Agency (USIA).
Authorizes appropriations for FY 1982 and 1983 to carry out certain international communication, educational, cultural, and exchange programs.
Amends the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 to permit any Federal employee who has special scientific, technical, or professional qualifications to be assigned to a foreign government (presently only U.S. citizens can be so assigned).
Authorizes the making of USIA procurement contracts of up to five years, if: (1) appropriations are available and adequate for the first fiscal year and for potential cancellation costs; and (2) the Director of the USIA makes specified determinations. Requires the cancellation of such a contract if funds are not available for its continuation.
Authorizes the Director of the USIA to purchase security vehicles without regard to any maximum price limitation. Authorizes the purchase of: (1) liability insurance to cover errors; and (2) insurance for the protection of interests in intellectual property.
Provides for the principal assistant of an USIA Associate Director to perform the duties of the Associate Director who dies, resigns, is sick, or is absent.
Excludes employees of certain exhibits of U.S. economic or cultural accomplishments from the provisions of the Defense Base Act for compensation for disability or death.
Provides that the fees received by the USIA in connection with its English-teaching programs may be credited to the USIA's applicable appropriation.
Makes the limitation on obligations or expenditures of appropriations to carry out the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 inapplicable with respect to any appropriations for liquidating notes which were assumed in the operation of the informational media guaranty program and were outstanding on a specified date.
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) U.S. exchange-of-persons activities should be strengthened; (2) such activities would be a cost-effective means of enhancing U.S. national security; and (3) such activities should be accorded a dependable source of long-term funding.
Requires the amount obligated by the USIA for grants for exchange-of-persons activities to be increased annually so that by FY 1986 such amount is twice the amount obligated for FY 1982.
Earmarks specified amounts out of the USIA appropriations for FY 1983 for: (1) the Fulbright Academic Exchange Programs and the International Visitor Program; (2) the Humphrey Fellowship Program; and (3) grants to private, not-for-profit organizations engaging in exchange-of-persons programs. Authorizes the Director of the USIA to authorize up to five percent of such earmarked amounts to be used for a purpose other than exchange-of-persons activities. Requires the Director to submit to the Congress a justification for taking such action 15 days before taking it.
Requires the USIA films "Reflections: Samuel Eliott Morison," "And Now Miguel," and "In Their Own Words" to be made available within the United States.
Title IV: Board for International Broadcasting
- Board for International Broadcasting Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1982 and 1983 - Amends the Board for International Broadcasting Act of 1973 to authorize appropriations for the Board for International Broadcasting for FY 1982 and 1983.
Prohibits the making of any grant to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc., (RFE/RL) under such Act unless: (1) the Board of Directors of RFE/RL consists only of members of the Board for International Broadcasting; and (2) such Board makes all major policy determinations governing the operation of RFE/RL, Inc.
Designates as "Radio Marti" any U.S. program involving radio broadcasts directed principally at Cuba.
Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions
- Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1969 to authorize appropriations for the Inter-American Foundation for FY 1982 and 1983. Changes the method of reimbursing the Foundation's members for travel expenses.
Provides that recipients of Foundation grants need not deposit in the Treasury any money generated by investments of grant funds if such money is used for the purposes for which the grant was made.
Directs the President to report to the Congress on the cost of Federal, State, and local assistance for refugees and Cuban and Haitian entrants, within the United States or abroad, for each of FY 1981 and 1982.
Amends the Japan-United States Friendship Act to authorize the expenditure, without limitation, of the contributions deposited in the United States-Japanese Friendship Trust Fund from nonappropriated sources.
Expresses congressional support for U.S. promotion of sound infant feeding practices.
Urges the President to review the U.S. position on the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes before the 25th World Health Assembly meeting.
Repeals certain obsolete provisions of specified Acts.
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Bill titles: An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 1982 and 1983 for the Department of State, the International Communications Agency, and the Board for International Broadcasting, and for other purposes.; Board for International Broadcasting Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1982 and 1983; Department of State Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1982 and 1983; Foreign Missions Act; United States Information Agency Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1982 and 1983
Original source documents: Digest of the Congressional Record vol. 156, p. 7932;
Links for more info on the vote: congress.gov
