Sec. 198. Public diplomacy efforts
223 words·~1 min read·
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It is the sense of Congress that— the Peoples’ Republic of China, Russia, and other strategic competitors vastly overshadow the United States in efforts to shape global public opinion in favor of their own narrow political, commercial, and economic interests, including through promoting disinformation and propaganda as well as investing in exchange programs, scholarships, cultural diplomacy, and other programs; the United States must utilize its full spectrum of public diplomacy tools to promote United States interests and security as well as combat Russian and PRC disinformation; and the Department of State should ensure that adequate resources are available for posts to generate locally tailored public diplomacy programming that advances United States national security objectives.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a strategy to modernize and increase the operational and programming capacity of American Spaces, American Corners, and American Centers throughout the world, including on— leveraging public private partnerships; options for United States Government stipends or additional pay to augment the current salaries of local staff at partner organizations hosting American Spaces to locally employed staff of American Spaces and American Corners; and opportunities for United States businesses and nongovernmental organizations to better utilize American Spaces in alignment with overall United States Government priorities.