Sec. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS

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## SEC. 4 SENSE OF CONGRESS It is the sense of Congress that— ####

(1)the Organization of American States

(OAS)should be the primary multi-lateral diplomatic entity for regional dispute resolution and promotion of democratic governance and institutions; ####

(2)the OAS is a valuable platform from which to launch initiatives aimed to benefit the countries of the Western Hemisphere; ####

(3)the Summit of the Americas institution and process embodies a valuable complement to regional dialogue and cooperation; ####

(4)the Summit of the Americas process should be formally and more effectively integrated into the work of the OAS, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other Members of the Joint Summit Working Group, and the OAS should play a central role in overseeing and managing the Summit process; ####

(5)the OAS General Assembly and the Summit of the Americas events should be combined geographically and chronologically in the years in which they coincide; ####

(6)the OAS has historically accepted too many mandates from its member states, resulting in both lack of clarity on priorities and loss of institutional focus, which in turn has reduced the effectiveness of the organization; ####

(7)to ensure an appropriate balance of priorities, the OAS should review its core functions no less than annually and seek opportunities to reduce the number of mandates not directly related to its core functions; ####

(8)key OAS strengths lie in strengthening peace and security, promoting and consolidating representative democracy, regional dispute resolution, election assistance and monitoring, fostering economic growth and development cooperation, facilitating trade, combating illicit drug trafficking and transnational crime, and support for the Inter-American Human Rights System; ####

(9)the core competencies referred to in paragraph

(8)should remain central to the strategic planning process of the OAS and the consideration of future mandates; ####

(10)any new OAS mandates should be accepted by the member states only after an analysis is conducted and formally presented consisting of a calculation of the financial costs associated with the mandate, an assessment of the comparative advantage of the OAS in the implementation of the mandate, and a description of the ways in which the mandate advances the organization’s core mission; ####

(11)any new mandates should include, in addition to the analysis described in paragraph (10), an identification of the source of funding to be used to implement the mandate; ####

(12)the OAS would benefit from enhanced coordination between the OAS and the Inter-American Development Bank on issues that relate to economic development; ####

(13)the OAS would benefit from standard reporting requirements for each project and grant agreement; ####

(14)the OAS would benefit from effective implementation of— #####

(A)transparent and merit-based human resource standards and processes; and #####

(B)transparent hiring, firing, and promotion standards and processes, including with respect to factors such as gender and national origin; and ####

(15)it is in the interest of the United States, OAS member states, and a modernized OAS to move toward an assessed fee structure that assures the financial sustainability of the organization and establishes, not later than five years after the date of the enactment of this Act, that no member state pays more than 50 percent of the organization’s assessed fees.