HR7642-119

Reported

GUIDE Act

119th Congress Introduced Feb 23, 2026

Summary

What This Bill Does

The GUIDE Act authorizes a State Department workforce program for international disaster assistance. The Secretary of State, acting through the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, may establish a program to recruit, train, and retain specialized disaster assistance professionals for the Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response.

The purpose is to ensure the bureau has enough personnel with the skills and expertise needed to plan, implement, and manage complex international disaster assistance operations. Professionals recruited, trained, or retained through the program must have expertise in relevant areas such as procurement, logistics, public health, nutrition, protection, engineering, and finance. The bill creates authority for a staffing pipeline; it does not itself appropriate a dollar amount.

Who Benefits and How

The Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response benefits from authority to build a specialized professional workforce for complex international disaster operations. International disaster assistance teams benefit from more staff with procurement, logistics, engineering, public health, nutrition, protection, and finance skills. Disaster-affected communities abroad benefit if U.S. assistance can be planned and managed more effectively. Specialized disaster assistance professionals benefit from recruitment, training, and retention opportunities. U.S. diplomatic missions in disaster-affected regions benefit from stronger operational support. Humanitarian implementing partners benefit from better federal capacity to manage assistance.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of State and Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance must design and administer the program if they use the authority. Bureau workforce managers must recruit, train, and retain specialized personnel. Department of State human resources staff must support hiring, training, and retention processes. Federal taxpayers may bear costs if the program is funded. Existing bureau managers must integrate new specialized professionals into disaster-response operations. Applicants selected for the program must meet specialized skill expectations.

Key Provisions

  • Authorizes a State Department program to recruit, train, and retain specialized disaster assistance professionals.
  • Places the authority with the Secretary of State acting through the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance.
  • Directs the program toward the Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response.
  • Identifies procurement, logistics, public health, nutrition, protection, engineering, and finance as relevant expertise.
  • Supports planning, implementation, and management of complex international disaster assistance operations.

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

Authorizes the Secretary of State, acting through the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, to create a program to recruit, train, and retain specialized disaster assistance professionals for the Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response, including experts in procurement, logistics, public health, nutrition, protection, engineering, and finance.

Key Policy Areas

Foreign Assistance, Disaster Response, Federal Workforce

Primary Purpose

Authorizes the Secretary of State, acting through the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, to create a program to recruit, train, and retain specialized disaster assistance professionals for the Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response, including experts in procurement, logistics, public health, nutrition, protection, engineering, and finance.

Policy Domains

Foreign Assistance Disaster Response Federal Workforce

Bill provisions

Identified Gains
  • Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response
  • International disaster assistance teams
  • Disaster-affected communities abroad
  • Specialized disaster assistance professionals
  • United States diplomatic missions
  • Humanitarian implementing partners
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
United States diplomatic missions:
Humanitarian implementing partners:
Disaster-affected communities abroad:
International disaster assistance teams:
Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response:
Specialized disaster assistance professionals:
Identified Costs
  • Secretary of State staff
  • Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance staff
  • Bureau workforce managers
  • Department of State human resources staff
  • Federal taxpayers
  • Specialized professional applicants
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
Federal taxpayers:
Secretary of State staff:
Bureau workforce managers:
Specialized professional applicants:
Department of State human resources staff:
Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance staff:

Legislative Progress

Reported
Introduced Committee Passed
Mar 26, 2026

Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute …

Mar 26, 2026

Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

Feb 23, 2026

Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Feb 23, 2026

Introduced in House

Feb 23, 2026

Mrs. Kim introduced the following bill; which was referred to …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
2 mentions across 1 clause
+1 positive -1 negative

Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response, Department of State human resources staff

Positive-direction: Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response

Negative-direction: Department of State human resources staff

Emergency Management
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Specialized disaster assistance professionals

Foreign Assistance
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

International disaster assistance teams

General Public
1 mention across 1 clause
?1 uncertain

Taxpayers

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Foreign Assistance Disaster Response Federal Workforce
Actor Mappings
"secretary"
→ Secretary of State
"under_secretary"
→ Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance

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