H.R. 4516

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4516 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4516

To require the Secretary of State to ensure that commodities procured 
for the purpose of foreign assistance are made available to intended 
beneficiaries before such commodities expire, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 17, 2025

Mr. Meeks (for himself, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Ms. Meng, Mr. Amo, 
Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Nadler, and Ms. Williams of Georgia) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require the Secretary of State to ensure that commodities procured 
for the purpose of foreign assistance are made available to intended 
beneficiaries before such commodities expire, 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 ``Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) Foreign assistance commodities, including food, 
medicine, family planning products, and vaccines, provide 
critical support to people who are recovering from the 
aftermath of natural disasters, fleeing conflict or war, 
residing in refugee camps, or living in developing communities 
with limited access to health care.
(2) United States investments in global health bolster 
economic growth for partner countries, produce returns on 
investment for the United States economy, create an estimated 
600,000 jobs in the United States, and generated an estimated 
$104,000,000,000 in economic activity during the 15-year period 
between 2007 and 2022.
(3) Reliable access to vaccines and medications, including 
pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiretroviral drugs to prevent 
the spread of HIV and vaccines to prevent the transmission of 
communicable diseases such as polio and drug-resistant 
tuberculosis, makes everyone safer.
(4) United States food assistance benefits United States 
farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses, while addressing global 
food insecurity. United States farmers annually supply an 
estimated 40 percent of all international food assistance, 
which is valued at approximately $2,000,000,000.
(5) Greater access to family planning products and services 
has the potential to prevent up to 30 percent of the 295,000 
annual maternal deaths and save the lives of approximately 
1,400,000 children who are younger than 5 years old.
(6) The voluntary destruction of foreign assistance 
commodities intended for beneficiaries at risk of food 
insecurity and famine, sexual violence, maternal and infant 
death and disease is unethical and contrary to United States 
interests and moral obligations.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON THE DESTRUCTION OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PRODUCTS 
AND COMMODITIES.

Section 102 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151-
1) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the following:
``(18) Perishable and nonperishable foreign assistance 
commodities and products, including medicine, vaccines, medical 
devices, food, and food commodities that are procured, managed, 
controlled, or held in warehouses, ships, shipping containers, 
or any other storage facility, by the United States Government 
or by a foreign assistance implementing partner of the United 
States Government shall be made available to intended 
beneficiaries, including through donation, for their intended 
purpose and before the date on which such commodities and 
products spoil or expire.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(d)(1) If any commodity is in the possession or control of a 
foreign assistance implementing partner of the United States, the 
Secretary of State, the Secretary of Agriculture, or the Administrator 
of the United States Agency for International Development, as 
appropriate, shall, on an expedited basis, release such funds as may be 
necessary to ensure the delivery or donation of the commodity to the 
intended beneficiaries before the date the commodity spoils or expires.
``(2) No commodity may be destroyed unless every effort has been 
made to sell, donate, or otherwise make the commodity available 
(whichever is more likely to ensure the commodity will be received and 
used by the intended beneficiaries) before the date the commodity 
spoils or expires.
``(3)(A) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
the Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars Act, and annually thereafter, the 
Secretary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development and the Secretary of 
Agriculture, as appropriate, shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report that describes any commodity that, 
during the year prior to the date of the submission of the report 
expired, spoiled, or was destroyed prior to the delivery of such 
commodity to an intended beneficiary.
``(B) Each report required by subparagraph (A) shall include, for 
each expired, spoiled, or destroyed commodity described--
``(i) a description of all negotiations, plans, and efforts 
to make the commodity available to the intended beneficiaries;
``(ii) the reason the commodity was not made available to 
the intended beneficiaries;
``(iii) the intended purpose of the commodity;
``(iv) a list of the geographic locations of all intended 
beneficiaries of the commodity, by country or region, as 
appropriate;
``(v) the procured and market value of the commodity; and
``(vi) the cost incurred to destroy or dispose of the 
commodity.
``(4) In this subsection--
``(A) the term `appropriate congressional committees' 
means--
``(i) the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
Representatives; and
``(ii) the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
``(B) the term `commodity' means a perishable or 
nonperishable commodity or product (including medicine, 
vaccines, medical devices, food, and food commodities) that is 
procured, managed, controlled, or held in warehouses, ships, 
shipping containers, or any other storage facility, by the 
United States Government or by a foreign assistance 
implementing partner of the United States Government for the 
purpose of providing foreign assistance.''.
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