Foreign Assistance Act of 1974

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Foreign Assistance Act of 1974
Great Seal of the United States
Other short titlesForeign Assistance Act Amendments of 1974
Long titleAn Act to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and for other purposes.
Enacted bythe 93rd United States Congress
EffectiveDecember 30, 1974
Citations
Public law93-559
Statutes at Large88 Stat. 1795
Codification
Acts amendedForeign Assistance Act of 1961
Titles amended22 U.S.C.: Foreign Relations and Intercourse
U.S.C. sections amended22 U.S.C. ch. 32 § 2151
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Senate as S. 3394 by John Sparkman (D–AL) on April 29, 1974
  • Committee consideration by Senate Foreign Relations
  • Passed the Senate on December 4, 1974 (46–45)
  • Passed the House on December 11, 1974 (201–189, in lieu of H.R. 17234)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on December 17, 1974; agreed to by the Senate on December 17, 1974 (49–43) and by the House on December 18, 1974 (209–189)
  • Signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford on December 30, 1974

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 93–559) was an Act of the 93rd United States Congress that added several amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Aid to South Vietnam[edit]

The Act effectively eliminated aid and military funding for South Vietnam. Direct US involvement in Vietnam was already prohibited under the Case–Church Amendment, and the termination of US funding and indirect support for South Vietnam was a significant factor leading to the Fall of Saigon.

Covert actions[edit]

The Act also included the Hughes–Ryan Amendment, which required the President to report all covert operations of the CIA to Congress within a set time limit, and placed limits on the funding of such operations.

The Act also included other amendments, including, among others, appropriation of funds to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, and the suspension of funds to Turkey due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.[1][2][3]

Human rights[edit]

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 declared that it was the sense of the Congress that:

"except in extraordinary circumstances, the President shall substantially reduce or terminate security assistance to any government which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights..."[4]

The Act goes on define the term “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” as including:

"...torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trial, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of person."[5]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ S. 3394 at Congress.gov
  2. ^ http://searchjustice.usdoj.gov/search?q=cache:UGivNDN17RgJ:www.justice.gov/crt/about/cor/byagency/dos2314.php+crt+cor+byagency+dos2314+site:www.justice.gov/crt&output=xml_no_dtd&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection&ie=UTF-8&access=p&oe=ISO-8859-1[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "United States: Foreign Assistance Act of 1974". International Legal Materials. 14 (1): 167–180. January 1975. doi:10.1017/S0020782900040821. JSTOR 20691387. S2CID 248997679.
  4. ^ Section 46 of P.L. 93-559, December 30, 1974, 88 Stat. 1795, 1815
  5. ^ Section 46 of P.L. 93-559, December 30, 1974, 88 Stat. 1795, 1815
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