H.R. 4516 — Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars Act

This section states the following congressional findings: (1) foreign assistance commodities, including food, medicine, family planning products, and vaccines, provide critical support to people recovering from natural disasters, fleeing conflict or war, residing in refugee camps, or living in developing communities with limited health care access; (2) U.S. investments in global health bolster partner-country economic growth, produce returns for the U.S. economy, create an estimated 600,000 U.S. jobs, and generated an estimated $104 billion in economic activity from 2007 through 2022; (3) reliable access to vaccines and medications, including pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiretroviral drugs for HIV prevention and vaccines for polio and drug-resistant tuberculosis, makes everyone safer; (4) U.S. food assistance benefits U.S. farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses while addressing global food insecurity, with U.S. farmers supplying an estimated 40% of all international food assistance valued at approximately $2 billion annually; (5) greater access to family planning products and services has the potential to prevent up to 30% of the 295,000 annual maternal deaths and save approximately 1.4 million lives of children under age 5; and (6) the voluntary destruction of foreign assistance commodities intended for beneficiaries at risk of food insecurity, famine, sexual violence, maternal and infant death, and disease is unethical and contrary to U.S. interests and moral obligations.

This section amends Section 102 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to prohibit the destruction of perishable and nonperishable U.S. foreign assistance commodities and products (e.g., medicine, vaccines, medical devices, food, food commodities) procured, managed, controlled, or held by the U.S. government or implementing partners unless every effort has been made to sell, donate, or otherwise make them available to intended beneficiaries before they spoil or expire. The section further requires (1) expedited release of necessary funds by the Secretary of State, Secretary of Agriculture, or USAID Administrator, as appropriate, to facilitate delivery or donation; and (2) reports to the House and Senate Appropriations and Foreign Affairs/Foreign Relations Committees, initially within 90 days of enactment and annually thereafter, detailing any expired, spoiled, or destroyed commodities, including efforts made, reasons for failure, intended purpose and beneficiaries by country or region, procured and market values, and disposal costs.