H.R. 7649, Humanitarian Theft Enforcement Act

Under H.R. 7649, a foreign person who diverts or destroys U.S. humanitarian assistance would be liable to the United States for the monetary value of that assistance. The bill would authorize the Department of State to identify such people and recover the loss. Amounts recovered would be available for obligation and expenditure. Lastly, H.R. 7649 would require the department to report annually on its implementation of the bill.

Under current law, the Department of State monitors the implementation of foreign aid and has multiple ways to deter fraud and abuse. The department may refer cases involving people who defraud the federal government by diverting or destroying foreign assistance to the Department of Justice for criminal or civil prosecution. In addition, the State Department has administrative procedures to recoup damages, primarily from people who implement or receive foreign assistance. Most often, the amounts recovered under such procedures are no longer available for spending because the appropriation that funded the assistance has expired by the time the amounts are recovered. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 7649 would not affect the number of incidents of fraud and abuse that are investigated. Instead, it would create a similar administrative procedure available to the Department of State that would make recovered amounts available for obligation and expenditure.

On the basis of information from the Department of State, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 7649 would allow the department to retain $1 million each year that would otherwise revert to the Treasury. Because those amounts would be available to spend without further appropriation, they are classified as direct spending. Therefore, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase direct spending by $10 million over the 2026-2036 period.

CBO’s estimate is subject to some uncertainty. The bill does not specify the standards for the Department of State to determine liability, nor the mechanism to recover the monetary value. Costs could differ from the amounts estimated here if the department implements the bill differently than CBO expects.

Using information about the costs of similar reports, CBO estimates that satisfying the reporting requirements in the bill would cost less than $500,000 over the 2026-2031 period. Such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Jeremy Crimm and Sunita D’Monte. The estimate was reviewed by Chad Chirico, Director of Budget Analysis.