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This bill — the Global Fragility Act — would require the U.S. government – in collaboration with civil society – to develop a 10-year strategy to enhance stability, reduce violence and fragility globally, and implement strong monitoring and evaluation systems. This strategy would be developed as a joint effort between the State Dept., United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Pentagon.

This bill would require the administration to:

Launch a “Global Fragility Initiative,” the first-ever whole-of-government effort to address the risks of fragility by stabilizing conflict-affected areas and preventing violence and conflict globally through ten-year plans to address fragility in priority countries and regions, to be created by the Secretary of State, the USAID Administrator, and the Secretary of Defense;
Identify where fragility poses the greatest threats to civilian security and select those countries or regions where the U.S. will pilot innovative diplomatic and programmatic action in support of the Global Fragility Initiative/Strategy;
Improve its ability to measure, evaluate, and assess efforts to stabilize conflict-affected areas and prevent violence and fragility;
Report to the Congress and the American people on a biennial basis on which tools are most effective for stabilizing and preventing conflict; and
Authorize existing funds to support the Initiative/Strategy.

This bill would establish a Stabilization and Prevention Fund fund at the Treasury Dept., to be administered by the State Dept. and USAID. This fund would receive $200 million for each of the five fiscal years beginning after this bill’s enactment. Money in the fund would be used for economic and development assistance for: 1) supporting stabilization of conflict-affected areas and to prevent violence and fragility globally, including through the Global Fragility Initiative this bill would establish, and 2) providing assistance, including stabilization assistance for vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities, to areas liberated from, at risk from, or under the control of the Island State of Iraq and Syria, other terrorist organizations, or violent extremist organizations.

This bill would also establish a Complex Crises Fund at the Treasury Dept., to be administered by USAID. This fund would receive $30 million for each of the five fiscal years beginning with the first one beginning after this bill’s enactment. This fund’s money would be used to carry out the provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that support programs and activities to prevent or respond to emerging or unforeseen foreign challenges and complex crises overseas, including through the Global Fragility Initiative.

Under this bill, a “fragile state” is defined by an inability to cope with political, security, economic or environmental stresses.

","official_title":"To enhance stabilization of conflict-affected areas and prevent violence and fragility globally, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Global Fragility Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Global Fragility Act This bill directs the Department of State to establish the interagency Global Fragility Initiative to stabilize conflict-affected areas and prevent violence globally, and establishes funds to support such efforts. The State Department shall devise a plan for the initiative, including its organizational structure and goals. The State Department shall lead in foreign policy, diplomatic, and political efforts. The U.S. Agency for International Development shall lead in devel...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Conflict-prone areas; international violence; USAID; State Department; DOD; GAO; International affairs; and Congress.","argument_for":"Global violence has high human and economic costs, leading to the loss of lives and economic output. Addressing it requires interagency within the U.S. and cooperation with international partners in order to develop effective strategies — which this bill enables.","argument_against":"USAID, the State Department, and DOD engage on very different issues in each country they’re present in, so interagency coordination of violence reduction efforts may not be fruitful. Rather than spending additional money to coordinate these agencies’ work, the government should simply fund them as needed to achieve anti-violence objectives globally. Additionally, the U.S. and other wealthy nations don’t have a good track record on helping fragile states — so perhaps the U.S. should reconsider whether it should even be intervening in fragile states in the first place.","bill_type":"hr","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"hr2116-116","bill_id":"hr2116-116","formal_id":"H.R. 2116","chamber":"house","congress":116,"last_action_at":"2019-05-21T00:00:00.000Z","active":false,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":null,"debated_on":"2019-05-18T01:47:13.000Z","congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2116","plain_text_url":null,"shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr2116-116.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2116/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":null,"related_bill_ids":null,"progress":"Passed House","house_passage_result":true,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":155,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Foreign Affairs","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSFA","subcommittee":false},{"name":"Committee on Foreign Relations","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSFR","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=hr2116-116","details":"/api/bills/hr2116-116/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/hr2116-116","positionsFor":"/api/bills/hr2116-116/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/hr2116-116/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":20,"slug":"hr2116-116-global-fragility-act","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":682,"yea_vote_count":463,"nay_vote_count":218,"passed_house":true,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["international-trade-and-affairs"],"issue_ids":["war","counterterrorism","international-trade-and-affairs","federal-agencies","middle-east"],"sponsor_id":427}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"war","name":"War","slug":"war","description":"All is fair in love and war? 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Not the world Policeman and 2 Not the worlds Bank. And Findley 3 Not the worlds Baby sitter let finally. Let other nations worry about the world is that what the Clowns at the UN are supposed to do","show_argument_for":false,"show_argument_against":true,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":null,"upvotes_against_count":0,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/cc9bfa79-7cc2-44a9-bd8d-7be02e343bab"},"body":"How about we worry about the United States for a change FYI the USA is 1. Not the world Policeman and 2 Not the worlds Bank. And Findley 3 Not the worlds Baby sitter let finally. Let other nations worry about the world is that what the Clowns at the UN are supposed to do","stance":"nay","created_at":"2019-05-20T15:46:35.533Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/cc9bfa79-7cc2-44a9-bd8d-7be02e343bab.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"hr2116-116","user_id":"mQLMq3GE","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Should the U.S. Have a 10-Year Strategy for Monitoring & Helping Fragile Countries?