Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on September 17, 2013
S. 120 would require the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to increase the number of scholarships provided to women in Pakistan under an existing program and to brief the Congress on its progress. Of the roughly 290 scholarships provided in calendar year 2011 under USAID’s Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship program, 81 scholarships went to women. In calendar years 2013, 2014, and 2015, the bill would require USAID to increase the number of scholarships to women (over the number provided in 2011) and make every effort to award at least half of all scholarships to women. The bill would require USAID to provide annual briefings to the Congress on the progress of implementing those requirements.
USAID has indicated that it would meet both of the bill’s requirements under its current plans to provide 487 scholarships to women in 2013, 422 in 2014, and 171 in 2015. In each of those years, women would receive at least half of all scholarships provided. Therefore, CBO estimates that implementing S. 120 would not result in any additional scholarships being provided and would have no effects on the federal budget. Pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply to this legislation because it would not affect direct spending or revenues.
