Bill Details
HR.1243 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2025-02-12 - Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Introduced Date
2025-02-12
Policy Area
International Affairs
Committees
View committees (1)
Sponsors
Cosponsors
8
0
0
AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would block U.S. aid to any foreign country that votes against the U.S. position in the United Nations too often. In simple terms, it ties American assistance to how closely another country lines up with the United States in U.N. voting. The bill also gives the Secretary of State limited power to make an exception if a country has had a major change in government and is expected to stop opposing the U.S. position. If an exception is made, Congress must be told why. The bill would not take effect until a required U.N. voting report is submitted in 2026.
- A country would be covered if its U.N. votes match the U.S. position less than half the time during the most recent General Assembly session.
- For countries on the U.N. Security Council, the bill looks at their votes in both the Security Council and the General Assembly.
- The aid covered includes economic support funds, international military education and training, Foreign Military Financing, and other money or physical assistance.
- The Secretary of State may waive the ban if there has been a fundamental change in a country’s leadership and policies, but the waiver lasts only until the next required report to Congress.
Official Summaries
United Nations Voting Accountability Act of 2025
This bill prohibits giving assistance, such as various types of economic support or military training, to countries that shared U.S. positions on less than 50% of the recorded votes in the most recent United Nations session.
A country may be exempted from this prohibition if the Department of State determines that the country will no longer oppose U.S. positions due to a fundamental change in the country's leadership and policies.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1243 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1243
To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose
the position of the United States in the United Nations.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 12, 2025
Mr. Davidson (for himself, Mr. Weber of Texas, and Mr. Biggs of
Arizona) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose
the position of the United States in the United Nations.
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 ``United Nations Voting Accountability
Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES THAT OPPOSE THE POSITION
OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE UNITED NATIONS.
(a) Prohibition.--United States assistance may not be provided to a
country that opposed the position of the United States in the United
Nations.
(b) Exemption Due to Change in Government.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of State may exempt a
country from the prohibition described in subsection (a) if the
Secretary determines that since the beginning of the most
recent session of the General Assembly--
(A) there has been a fundamental change in the
leadership and policies of the government of a country
to which the prohibition in such subsection applies;
and
(B) as a result of such change, the government of
such country will no longer oppose the position of the
United States in the United Nations.
(2) Duration of exemption.--An exemption under paragraph
(1) shall be effective only until submission of the next report
required under section 406 of the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (22 U.S.C. 2414a)
that is submitted after the Secretary of State makes such an
exemption.
(3) Notification and discussion.--The Secretary of State
shall notify Congress with respect to an exemption made under
paragraph (1), together with a discussion of the basis for the
Secretary's determination with respect to each such exemption.
(c) Definitions.--As used in this Act--
(1) the term ``opposed the position of the United States''
means, in the case of a country, that the country's recorded
votes in the United Nations General Assembly during the most
recent session of the General Assembly and, in the case of a
country which is a member of the United Nations Security
Council, the country's recorded votes both in the Security
Council and the General Assembly during the most recent session
of the General Assembly, were the same as the position of the
United States less than 50 percent of the time, using for this
purpose a comparison of the recorded vote cast by each member
country with the recorded vote cast by the United States, as
described in the annual report submitted to Congress pursuant
to section 406 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act,
Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991;
(2) the term ``most recent session of the General
Assembly'' means the most recently completed plenary session of
the General Assembly for which a comparison of the vote cast by
each member country with the vote cast by the United States is
described in the most recent report submitted to Congress
pursuant to section 406 of the Foreign Relations Authorization
Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991; and
(3) the term ``United States assistance'' means assistance
under--
(A) chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.; relating to the
economic support fund);
(B) chapter 5 of part II of such Act (22 U.S.C.
2347 et seq.; relating to international military
education and training);
(C) the ``Foreign Military Financing Program''
account under section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act
(22 U.S.C. 2763); and
(D) any other monetary or physical assistance.
(d) Effective Date.--This Act shall take effect upon the date of
the submission to Congress of the report required under section 406 of
the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991,
that is required to be submitted by March 31, 2026.
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