As ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 7, 2012
H.R. 1410 would impose certain limitations on foreign assistance to Vietnam and require the Secretary of State to report annually to the Congress regarding aspects of United States policy
with respect to that country. The bill would limit nonhumanitarian assistance to amounts provided in 2011 unless the federal government met two requirements. First, it would need to match or
exceed any increase in nonhumanitarian assistance with additional assistance to promote the rule of law, human rights, and certain exchange programs. And second, it would need to certify that the government of Vietnam has made progress towards promoting democracy and human rights. The bill would allow the President to waive those requirements.
Based on information from the Department of State, CBO estimates that implementing the reporting requirements in H.R. 1410 would have discretionary costs of less than $500,000 a year, totaling about $1 million over the 2012-2017 period, assuming the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 1410 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Sunita D’Monte. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
