Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51) introduced legislation (H.R. 1196) to protect the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the chief arm of the U.S. government to promote America’s soft power, which helps countries recover from natural disasters, prevents the spread of diseases, eradicates poverty, and promotes good governance and democratic reforms. The Protect U.S. National Security Act reiterates that any USAID reform should abide by existing laws and not harm American soft power, prohibits the use of funds to eliminate USAID as an independent agency, and requires annual certification of this prohibition by the Secretary of State.
Rep. Sara Jacobs is the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, which also oversees USAID, foreign assistance, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and global health. The original cosponsors are Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL-20), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-01), Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Sarah McBride (D-DE-AL), Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), John Garamendi (D-CA-08), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37), Jim McGovern (D-MA-02), and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07).
