Three bills, authored by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), that sanction Iran and its enablers, including the Chinese Communist Party, Iranian leaders, and Iran-backed terrorist groups were signed into law. “We have seen the violent acts carried out by the...
News
Latest News
Rubio on TikTok Law: “Communist China is on the Clock”
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has led the charge to stop the Chinese Communist Party from using TikTok against the U.S. Rubio first spoke on the issue in 2019. Rubio released the following statement after President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that forces the...
Rubio Calls Foreign-aid Bill “Moral Extortion” and “Legislative Blackmail”
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) delivered a speech on the Senate floor explaining why he opposes spending $95 billion on foreign aid while the Biden Administration leaves America’s southern border wide open. “I have senior citizens, I have veterans, and they call my...
Rubio Statement on the State Department’s 2023 Human Rights Report
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued the following statement regarding the U.S. State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: “The U.S. State Department’s annual human rights report is a crucial instrument in exposing human rights violations...
ICYMI: Rubio on Building a Pro-America Future in our Hemisphere
Building a Pro-America Future in our Hemisphere U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) April 23, 2024 National Interest …Noboa, Bukele, Milei, Peña—add to this list Luis Abinader in the Dominican Republic, Dina Boluarte in Peru, Irfaan Ali in Guyana, and Rodrigo Chaves in...
Rubio in 2019: Communist China will use TikTok against America
In 2019, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called for a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review of TikTok. Almost five years and dozens of documented abuses later, a bill to force China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok is poised to become...
Rubio, Cardin Introduce Bill To Increase Transparency Of Foreign Aid
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) today introduced the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2013, a bill that requires regular evaluations of foreign assistance programs to be made publicly available to the American people. Companion legislation is also being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen Ted Poe (R-TX) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA).
“America’s foreign assistance programs need greater transparency to ensure that they are advancing our values and interests overseas,” said Rubio. “Taxpayers deserve to know where their tax dollars are being spent and how effectively these investments are representing our nation’s international priorities. I will continue to find ways to ensure that the funds we devote to these types of programs are being spent wisely and in a way that advances U.S. national security objectives.”
“Thanks to the generosity of the American people, our foreign aid dollars have saved lives. Foreign aid makes up approximately one percent of the federal budget, but it has helped create better trade partners, helped empower citizens in every part of the globe stand up for their basic human rights and hold their governments accountable, and helped combat terrorism. There is no doubt that this one percent of our federal budget has the power to radically transform lives,” said Cardin. “Our goal is to ensure the highest possible efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance investments by requiring robust and uniform accountability — and full transparency — of each and every foreign aid dollar, so that we can measure our success.”
The Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2013 directs the President to establish goals, performance, and evaluation guidelines for U.S. foreign assistance programs, country assistance plans, and international and multilateral assistance programs. It builds upon previous efforts by including specific measurement guidelines from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the American Evaluation Association (AEA).
The bill requires federal agencies administering foreign aid to regularly monitor and evaluate these programs against specific metrics, as well as to publish the results of these evaluations online. If enacted, the bill would give federal agencies up to two years to fully comply with a mandate to post quarterly reports on their management of any foreign aid funds. The bill allows for classified briefings and written reports to Congress in cases where public dissemination of quarterly reports would jeopardize the security of an implementing partner, or be detrimental to the national security interests of the U.S.
The bill mandates biennial reports from the GAO on the different agencies’ implementation of the bill. The bill also recommends that Congress take into account these reports when appropriating funds for federal agencies administering foreign aid programs.