Bolstering the Effectiveness, Success, and Transparency of Ambassadors Act or the BEST Ambassadors Act
This bill expands disclosure requirements for individuals nominated to serve as an ambassador or in a related position.
If the President's nominee to serve as a chief of mission is not a career member of the Foreign Service, the President must provide to Congress a justification explaining whether a career member was available and why the nominee is uniquely qualified to serve in the position.
The President must certify that any campaign contributions made by an individual (or the individual's immediate family members) played no role in the decision to nominate the individual to serve as a chief of mission. The nominee must also provide to Congress an explanation concerning how the nominee meets the criteria for performing the position's duties.
A nominee to serve as a chief of mission, ambassador at large, or minister must report to Congress political contributions made by the individual or immediate family members in the 10 calendar years preceding the nomination (currently, the report only requires reporting of contributions from the preceding 4 calendar years). The Department of State must make this information available on its public website.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5643 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5643
To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees to serve as
chiefs of missions, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 20, 2021
Mr. Levin of Michigan (for himself and Mr. Meijer) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require additional disclosures with respect to nominees to serve as
chiefs of missions, and for other purposes.
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 ``Bolstering the Effectiveness,
Success, and Transparency of Ambassadors Act'' or the ``BEST
Ambassadors Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Foreign Service Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-465)
states, ``An individual appointed or assigned to be a chief of
mission should possess clearly demonstrated competence to
perform the duties of a chief of mission, including, to the
maximum extent practicable, a useful knowledge of the principal
language or dialect of the country in which the individual is
to serve, and knowledge and understanding of the history, the
culture, the economic and political institutions, and the
interests of that country and its people'' and continues that,
accordingly, ``positions as chief of mission should normally be
accorded to career members of the [Foreign] Service.''.
(2) The percentage of ambassadorships filled by political
appointees has increased over the past 40 years. During
President Jimmy Carter's term, between 1977 and 1981, about 26
percent of ambassadorships were filled by political appointees.
During President Ronald Reagan's terms, between 1981 and 1989,
about 38 percent were. More recently, under President Barack
Obama, about 30 percent of ambassadors were political
appointees, while about 43 percent were under President Donald
J. Trump as of September 14, 2020.
(3) The United States practice of appointing political
ambassadors is atypical globally. According to a 2017
University of Texas at Austin study, ``At the senior level, the
United States is an extreme outlier among foreign services in
the number of political appointees as ambassadors, even in key
posts.''.
(4) Political appointees are not necessarily unsuccessful
ambassadors. According to the 2017 University of Texas study,
``there have been highly accomplished political appointees who
have been superb ambassadors.'' The report continues, however,
``there have been many more patronage appointees with no
relevant qualifications, having been chosen principally for
their support in presidential election campaigns. Contrast
these U.S. ambassadors with their counterparts from other
countries, who typically speak several languages, are well
versed in the country to which they are assigned and are career
professionals with extensive knowledge of their home
ministries.''.
(5) The Foreign Service Act of 1980 states, ``Contributions
to political campaigns should not be a factor in the
appointment of an individual as a chief of mission.''. However,
this law has not forestalled the appointment--by both
Democratic and Republican presidents--of campaign donors
without apparent qualifications to serve in these posts.
(6) To ensure the United States has the best representation
possible abroad, it will be necessary to preserve the option to
appoint political ambassadors while enacting safeguards to
ensure these appointees are nominated because of their
qualifications, not their campaign contributions.
SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES REQUIRED WITH RESPECT TO NOMINEES.
Section 304 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3944) is
amended as follows:
(1) In paragraph (4) of subsection (a), by adding at the
end the following new sentence: ``If, as of the date of the
submission of such report, such individual has not served as a
career member of the Service, the President shall also include
in such report a justification explaining whether a career
member is available to fill such position and the manner and
extent to which the nominee is nevertheless uniquely qualified
to serve in such position.''.
(2) In paragraph (2) of subsection (b)--
(A) by striking ``fourth calendar year'' and
inserting ``tenth calendar year''; and
(B) by inserting ``and the Secretary of State shall
publish each such report and each `Certificate of
Competency' issued pursuant to this section on a
publicly available website of the Department of State''
after ``Congressional Record''.
(3) At the end of subsection (b), by adding the following
new paragraphs:
``(3) With respect to each nomination for an individual to
be a chief of mission, the President shall certify to the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate that any campaign
contributions made by the nominee or members of his or her
immediate family, whether or not included in the report
described in paragraph (2), played no role in such nomination.
``(4) Each individual nominated by the President to be a
chief of mission shall include in his or her statement to the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate an explanation of
the manner and extent to which such individual meets the
criteria described in paragraph (1) of subsection (a),
including the source and extent of such individual's knowledge
and understanding of the history, culture, economic and
political institutions, and interests of the people of such
country, and level of familiarity with the country's principal
language or dialect, including, if relevant, the scores
received in speaking and reading examinations taken at the
Foreign Service Institute for that language.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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