Sec. 5. Establishment of the Democracy in the 21st Century Fund
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There is established in the Treasury of the United States a fund to be known as the Democracy in the 21st Century Fund (in this subsection referred to as the Fund ), to be administered by the Secretary of State, following consultation with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and the appropriate congressional committees, consisting of amounts authorized to be appropriated by section 7, to advance the comprehensive strategy under section 3, including the programs of the Department of State, USAID, and the National Endowment for Democracy described in subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e).
The Secretary of State, in coordination with the USAID Administrator and in consultation with the appropriate congressional committees, shall establish a program to defend democracy globally by— strengthening and enhancing the Department of State and USAID’s ability to respond quickly and flexibly to democratic openings and backsliding; assisting fledgling or struggling democracies deliver services and meet expectations for their populations, in consultation and coordination with the governments of such democracies, in order to further reforms and strategies identified by such governments through consultation with respective civil societies; supporting, in cooperation with other international donors and in consultation with nongovernmental organizations, independent and public interest media worldwide to help such media resist the overlapping challenges of authoritarian encroachment, threats to their financial viability, and litigation and regulatory environments meant to undercut their ability to operate; centering democratic values and the promotion of civil and political rights in current and emerging technologies, and countering efforts by authoritarian governments to surveil, censor, or otherwise repress populations by digital means, including through programs that— counter disinformation; establish an initiative to help countries around the world implement governing regulations for the procurement and use of technology consistent with civil and political rights; provide digital public goods to reduce the appeal of authoritarian-leaning technologies to cash strapped countries; provide education on digital literacy to key populations; and support the ongoing prioritization of democratic values in technological development in the years to come; establishing international coalitions of governmental and nongovernmental actors dedicated to coordinating messaging, technical assistance programming, and rules-based governance approaches related to issues that impact democracy, particularly coalitions focused on— preserving election integrity by assisting elections to meet coalition-defined standards of electoral integrity and deterring or combating external influence in elections abroad, including cyber intrusion, disinformation, and other threats; and protecting supply chains from being tainted by the products of forced labor; and supporting human rights defenders, democracy advocates at risk, writers, artists, and others who were forced to flee repression in their home countries so that they can safely continue their activism in exile.
The Secretary of State, in coordination with the USAID Administrator and in consultation with the appropriate congressional committees, shall establish a program to support efforts by foreign governments, civil society, and the private sector to combat corruption and kleptocracy abroad, including through efforts that— enhance government transparency, accountability, and responsiveness across relevant sectors; improve detection and exposure of corruption crimes, including those that cross borders, improve citizen oversight and advocacy, protect free expression and civic activism, and bolster investigative journalism and media independence; expand investigations and prosecutions of corrupt acts and hold corrupt actors accountable, and assist in the adoption and implementation of anticorruption preventive measures and promotion of good governance and public administration; build effective, impartial judiciaries; address corruption in key sectors, whether at the level of delivery of services to citizens, important governmental processes such as procurement, or priority economic sectors; strengthen democratic norms and standards at the local, national, regional, and international levels; augment cooperation with the private sector and key industries to root out corruption that harms competitiveness, economic growth, and development and taints critical supply chains; strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration among nongovernmental organizations essential to combatting well-resourced transnational kleptocratic networks; address corrosive capital and the strategic use of corruption by authoritarian states to undermine democracy and good governance; provide essential skills and resources to civil society and media to counter corruption and address the weak governance and poor human rights conditions that cultivate corruption; and foster public demand for accountable and transparent government.
The Secretary of State, in consultation with the USAID Administrator and in consultation with the appropriate congressional committees, shall establish a program for democracy research and development that— supports research and development by the Department of State, USAID, and the NED on policies, programs, and technologies relating to democracy programs; drives innovation within those entities regarding the response to complex, multidimensional challenges to democracy, including combatting transnational kleptocracy, mitigating hyper-polarization, countering malign authoritarian influence, and leveraging emerging technology for democracy; incentivizes collaboration among government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector with the objective of identifying and mitigating threats to global democracy; and identifies lessons learned and best practices for democracy programs and diplomatic approaches to create feedback loops and shape future evidence-based programming and diplomacy.
The NED is authorized to expand the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program to provide additional fellowships, including in partnership with other institutions and organizations, to support democracy advocates at risk. Pursuant to sections 607 and 632 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 17 U.S.C. 2357 , 2392), and after consultation with the appropriate congressional committees, the Secretary of State is authorized to establish mechanisms under the Fund to partner with other donors and private sector partners to carry out the purposes of this section.
Concurrent with the submission of the report required by section 653(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2413(a) ), the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a detailed accounting of any funds programmed pursuant to the authorities under subsection
(f)during the prior fiscal year. Not later than 15 days prior to the obligation of funds authorized to be appropriated for the Fund and the programs established under this section, the Secretary of State and the USAID Administrator, as appropriate, shall notify the appropriate congressional committees of the intended uses of such funds. Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter through fiscal year 2027, the Secretary of State, the USAID Administrator, and the NED President, as appropriate, shall submit reports to the appropriate congressional committees detailing the uses of funds made available to the Fund pursuant to this Act.
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- 17 USC 2357
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