Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Global Health, Empowerment and Rights Act changes eligibility rules for foreign nongovernmental organizations receiving assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. It says a foreign NGO may not be made ineligible for assistance solely because it provides health or medical services, including counseling and referral services, with non-U.S. government funds, as long as those services do not violate the law of the country where they are provided.
The bill also bars extra restrictions on how foreign NGOs use non-U.S. government funds for advocacy and lobbying. Foreign NGOs may not be subject to requirements on those non-U.S. funds other than the requirements that apply to U.S. NGOs receiving part I Foreign Assistance Act assistance.
Who Benefits and How
Foreign NGOs providing reproductive health, counseling, referral, or other medical services benefit because they keep eligibility for U.S. foreign assistance when they use non-U.S. funds for lawful services. Women and patients served by foreign health NGOs benefit if organizations can continue integrated medical counseling, referrals, and care without losing U.S. assistance. U.S. global health implementing partners benefit from a uniform eligibility rule that treats foreign NGOs more like U.S. NGOs for non-U.S. funds.
Who Bears the Burden and How
USAID and State Department foreign assistance administrators must apply the eligibility protection and avoid imposing barred funding conditions. Federal grant compliance staff must distinguish U.S. government funds from non-U.S. government funds when reviewing NGO activities. Administrations seeking to impose broader foreign NGO restrictions lose a policy tool for conditioning global health assistance.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits denying Foreign Assistance Act part I assistance to foreign NGOs solely because of lawful health or medical services funded with non-U.S. government funds.
- Protects counseling and referral services when they are legal in the country where services are provided.
- Prohibits extra advocacy and lobbying restrictions on foreign NGOs' non-U.S. government funds beyond those applied to U.S. NGOs.
- Creates a uniform eligibility rule for foreign and U.S. NGO use of non-U.S. government funds.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Prevents foreign nongovernmental organizations from being denied Foreign Assistance Act part I assistance solely because they use non-U.S. government funds for legal health or medical services, counseling, referrals, advocacy, or lobbying under rules more restrictive than those applied to U.S. NGOs.
Key Policy Areas
Foreign Assistance, Global Health, Nongovernmental Organizations, Reproductive Health
Primary Purpose
Prevents foreign nongovernmental organizations from being denied Foreign Assistance Act part I assistance solely because they use non-U.S. government funds for legal health or medical services, counseling, referrals, advocacy, or lobbying under rules more restrictive than those applied to U.S. NGOs.
Policy Domains
Section 2 foreign NGO eligibility for Foreign Assistance Act part I assistance
Identified Gains
- Foreign reproductive health NGOs
- Foreign NGOs providing medical referrals
- Women served by foreign health NGOs
- U.S. global health implementing partners
Identified Costs
- USAID foreign assistance administrators
- State Department foreign assistance administrators
- Federal grant compliance staff
- Administrations imposing foreign NGO funding restrictions
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Lois Frankel of Florida (for herself, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. …
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Foreign NGOs providing medical referrals, Foreign reproductive health NGOs
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "foreign_ngo"
- → Foreign nongovernmental organization receiving part I Foreign Assistance Act assistance
- "administrator"
- → USAID or State Department foreign assistance administrator
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Funds other than U.S. government assistance that foreign NGOs may use for legal health, medical, counseling, referral, advocacy, or lobbying activities under the bill.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology