Description:
S. 2184 would require the President to issue guidelines establishing measurable goals, performance metrics, and plans for monitoring and evaluating foreign aid programs that provide development or economic assistance. It also would require agencies that implement such programs to publish detailed information about their programs on a public website. Finally, the bill would require the President and the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on the guidelines.
CBO estimates that developing and issuing guidelines, publishing existing information, and reporting to the Congress would cost less than $500,000 over the 2016-2020 period. The bill would not require the guidelines issued by the President to be implemented, nor would it require agencies to collect and publish information that is not already required. Therefore, CBO’s cost estimate does not include the costs of implementing the guidelines or collecting and publishing new information (both of which could be significant).
Enacting S. 2184 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting S. 2184 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2026.
S. 2184 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On November 23, 2015, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 3766, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on November 5, 2015. H.R. 3611 is similar to S. 2184 and CBO’s estimates of the budgetary effects of both bills are the same.
