S.Amdt. 3157

SA 3157. Mr. SCHATZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle D of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1266. INCLUSION OF PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES IN
DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND USAID PLANNING AND
PROGRAM EVALUATION PROCESSES.

(a) In General.--The Secretary of State, in coordination
with the Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development (in this section referred to as
``USAID''), shall include Pacific Island countries in
existing strategic planning and multi-sector program
evaluation processes, including the Integrated Country
Strategies of the Department of State, the Country
Development Cooperation Strategies of USAID, and the Joint
Strategic Plan of the Department and USAID.
(b) Programmatic Considerations.--Evaluations and
considerations for Pacific Island countries in the program
planning and strategic development processes described in
subsection (a) should include--
(1) descriptions of the diplomatic and development
challenges of each Pacific Island country as those challenges
relate to the strategic, economic, and humanitarian interests
of the United States;
(2) reviews of existing Department of State and USAID
programs to address the diplomatic and development challenges
of those countries identified under paragraph (1);
(3) descriptions of the barriers, if any, to increasing
Department of State and USAID programming to Pacific Island
countries, including--
(A) the income level of Pacific Island countries relative
to other regions where there is high demand for United States
foreign assistance to support development needs;
(B) the relative capacity of Pacific Island countries to
absorb United States foreign assistance for diplomatic and
development needs through partner governments and civil
society institutions; and
(C) any other factor that the Secretary or the
Administrator determines may constitute a barrier to
deploying or increasing United States foreign assistance to
the Pacific Island countries;
(4) assessments of the presence of, degree of international
development by, partner country indebtedness to, and
political influence of malign foreign governments, such as
the Government of the People's Republic of China, and non-
state actors;
(5) assessments of new foreign economic assistance
modalities that could strengthen United States foreign
assistance in to Pacific Island countries, including the
deployment of technical assistance and asset recovery tools
to partner governments and civil society institutions to help
develop the capacity and expertise necessary to achieve self-
sufficiency;
(6) an evaluation of the existing budget and resource
management processes for the mission and work of the
Department of State and USAID with respect to programming in
Pacific Island countries;
(7) an explanation of how the Secretary and the
Administrator will use existing programming processes,
including those with respect to development of an Integrated
Country Strategy, a Country Development Cooperation Strategy,
and the Joint Strategic Plan to advance the long-term growth,
governance, economic development, and resilience of Pacific
Island countries; and
(8) any recommendations about appropriate budgetary,
resource management, and programmatic changes necessary to
assist in strengthening United States foreign assistance
programming in the Pacific Island countries.
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