Description:
S. 1158 would require the Department of State to train Foreign Service officers (FSOs) on preventing and responding to genocide and other atrocities. It also would require annual reports to the Congress on that training, on which countries and regions are most at risk of atrocities, on the federal government’s current efforts and funding to prevent and respond to atrocities, and on recommendations to enhance that capacity. On the basis of information from the department about current training for FSOs, CBO expects that the department would add material on genocide prevention to its ongoing training on human rights. In addition, CBO expects that implementing the reporting requirements under the bill would have insignificant costs; that estimate is based on information from the department about similar reports. In total, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1158 would cost less than $500,000 over the 2019-2023 period. Any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Enacting S. 1158 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting S. 1158 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. S. 1158 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. On June 12, 2018, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 3030 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on May 17, 2018. The two bills are similar and CBO’s estimates of the cost of implementing them are the same.
