Ricketts Backs Legislation to Increase Oversight of Foreign Aid

July 6, 2023

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, co-sponsored the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Enhancement Act to promote more effective oversight of U.S. foreign assistance.

The bill was recently introduced by Senators Jim Risch (R-ID), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

“We need to conduct rigorous oversight over every cent of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” said Ricketts. “Nebraskans are rightly concerned the Biden administration is using our nation’s generous foreign assistance to push their far-left ideology around the world. We cannot allow that to happen. Foreign assistance agencies must be held to the highest standard, and collecting more public data will ensure transparency and accountability.”

Background:

In 2016, Congress enacted the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act (FATAA) which required federal departments and agencies to more effectively monitor and evaluate foreign aid programs, apply learning, and make related foreign aid data publicly available. Both the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development post aid data to a unified “foreign aid dashboard.”

Currently, the dashboard identifies the agencies, amounts, and sectors for which aid is being provided, but it does not reliably disclose who is implementing that assistance on the ground. The Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Enhancement Act will amend the FATAA to require U.S. foreign assistance agencies to include the following data on the dashboard: country or region, as appropriate; funding agency; managing agency; sector; total award amount; appropriations account; fiscal year or fiscal years; and implementing partners, including prime and subawards.

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