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H.R. 9405House119th Congress (2025-2027)In Committee

Esther Coopersmith Award Act

Sponsored by Lois FrankelRep. Lois Frankel (D-FL)
Introduced June 23, 2026

AI-Generated Summary

Updated June 27, 2026 at 5:11 AM UTC

The Esther Coopersmith Award Act creates a new State Department award to honor diplomats who advance women’s roles in preventing and resolving conflict, supporting peace and security. It adds a reference to women’s and girls’ rights in the Foreign Service Act, outlines who can receive the award, how it will be administered, and requires reporting on the awardees’ contributions. The program is designed to run for five years.

Key Provisions

  • Amends the Foreign Service Act to add "and the rights of women and girls" to the list of protected freedoms.
  • Creates an annual Esther Coopersmith Award, given by the Secretary of State to civil or foreign service employees who have advanced women’s participation in peace and security efforts.
  • Specifies award criteria, including promoting women’s leadership, safety, economic security, aid access, and data collection for early‑warning systems, and allows one honorable‑mention each year.
  • Requires the Secretary to fund travel for awardees to attend a major global security conference.
  • Designates the Office of Global Women’s Issues to run the award and sets up a review panel of senior State officials to select recipients.
  • Mandates that awardees and honorable mentions present their work virtually to the Chiefs of Mission Conference and at least one entry‑level Foreign Service training course.
  • Orders the Secretary of State to submit a detailed report on the awardees’ work to the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees within 90 days of selection.
  • Sets the program to expire five years after the law’s enactment.

Legislative Activity

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HouseIntro Referral Latest Action

Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Foreign Affairs Committee

June 23, 2026

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

June 23, 2026

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Foreign Affairs Committee

June 23, 2026

Bill Text

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Introduced in HouseIssued June 23, 2026

I

119th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 9405

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 23, 2026

Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida (for herself and Ms. Kamlager-Dove) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To establish, at the Department of State, the Esther Coopersmith Award in recognition of a distinguished diplomat advancing sustainable peace and security.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Esther Coopersmith Award Act.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following:

(1)

The United Nations Secretary General’s 2025 Report on Women, Peace and Security notes an estimated 676,000,000 women and girls lived within 50 kilometers of a deadly conflict event during 2024, which is the highest number since the 1990s.

(2)

The meaningful participation of women in conflict prevention and conflict resolution processes—

(A)

promotes more inclusive and democratic societies; and

(B)

is critical to the long-term stability and security of those countries and regions.

(3)

In 2017, President Trump signed the bipartisan Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–68), which codified decades’ long efforts to strategically address material threats to United States national security by supporting United States leadership in improving the participation of women in peace and security processes, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and decision-making institutions.

(4)

In 2018, President Trump signed the bipartisan Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act (Public Law 115–428) to recognize the vital contribution women’s full and unfettered economic participation and inclusion plays in fostering global growth, prosperity, and stability.

(5)

In October 2023, President Biden released the United States Strategy and National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to better equip United States national security agencies with the tools to address shifts in geopolitical challenges and advancements in technology.

(6)

Executive Order 13595 (76 Fed. Reg. 80205 (December 19, 2011); instituting a National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security)—

(A)

institutionalized a United States Government-wide effort promoting women’s participation in conflict prevention, management and resolution, and post-conflict recovery; and

(B)

noted the responsibility of all nations to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, including when implemented by means of sexual violence.

(7)

For 70 years, the late United States diplomat Esther Coopersmith leveraged creativity and innovation to build bridges and forge common understanding, which contributed invaluably to United States peace and security.

3.

Alignment of award recognizing United States diplomatic efforts within United States law

Section 614 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4013) is amended by inserting and the rights of women and girls after freedom of religion.

4.

Establishment of the Esther Coopersmith Award for Advancing Peace and Security

(a)

Establishment

The Secretary of State shall establish an annual individual or group performance award, which shall be known as the Esther Coopersmith Award.

(b)

Recipients

Recipients of the Esther Coopersmith Award shall—

(1)

be members of the Civil Service or of the Foreign Service who have made meaningful contributions advancing the purposes of the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–68) or the Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act 2018 (Public Law 115–428) to sustainably prevent, mitigate, or resolve conflict, violence, or instability;

(2)

include one honorable mention recipient annually; and

(3)

meet with the Secretary of State.

(c)

Efforts To be recognized

Recipients of the Esther Coopersmith Award shall be recognized for actions promoting women’s leadership in efforts, such as—

(1)

integrating the perspectives and interests of affected women into conflict-prevention activities and strategies;

(2)

encouraging partner governments to adopt plans to improve the meaningful participation of women in peace and security processes and decision-making institutions;

(3)

promoting the physical safety, economic security, and dignity of women and girls;

(4)

supporting the equal access of women to aid distribution mechanisms and services; and

(5)

supporting foreign capacity to collect or analyze data for the purpose of developing and enhancing early warning systems of conflict and violence.

(d)

Representation

In accordance with section 5(a)(1) of the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 (22 U.S.C. 2152j–1(a)(1)), the Secretary of State shall support recipients’ official travel to attend a major global security conference to support the alignment of global efforts advancing peace and security.

(e)

Administration

The Secretary of State shall—

(1)

designate the Office of Global Women’s Issues to administer the Esther Coopersmith Award; and

(2)

receive input regarding award recipients through an award review panel composed of Assistant Secretaries of State and Chiefs of Missions.

5.

Mandatory training

In accordance with section 6(a) of the Women, Peace and Security Act of 2017 (22 U.S.C. 2152j–2(a)), award recipients and honorable mentions shall present their work virtually to—

(1)

the Chiefs of Mission Conference; and

(2)

at least 1 entry level training course (such as the A–100 class) for incoming Foreign Service officers.

6.

Report

(a)

In general

Not later than 90 days after the Secretary of State selects recipients pursuant to section 4, the Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives that describes the efforts undertaken by the recipients to promote women’s roles in supporting peace and security.

(b)

Matters To be included

The report required under subsection (a) shall—

(1)

describe United States' interests in resolving the conflict, instability, or violence addressed by the recipients;

(2)

describe the recipients’ actions and resulting outcomes, including those taken by a United States Mission, Department of State bureau, foreign government, or other stakeholders;

(3)

assess areas for potential further action and lessons learned; and

(4)

identify steps to be taken by the Department of State to replicate or carry forward work initiated by the award recipient, if applicable.

7.

Sunset

This Act, and the amendment made by this Act, shall cease to have any force or effect beginning on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.