Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73

§2221 General authority

Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 32— - FOREIGN ASSISTANCE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT › Part Part III— - International Organizations and Programs › § 2221

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President may give voluntary grants to international organizations and their programs when he decides it serves the national interest. For the Indus Basin Development Fund run by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, he may make grants and loans that must be paid in U.S. dollars and follow section 2151t(b) of this title. U.S. money cannot go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East unless that agency takes all possible steps to make sure none of the U.S. funds help any refugee who is getting military training as part of the so‑called Palestine Liberation Army or another guerrilla group or who has taken part in terrorism. If a fund is paid for only by the United States but run by an international group under an agreement, that agreement must let the Comptroller General audit the fund. Agreements made before November 14, 1967 must be changed to allow those audits, and the Comptroller General must report audit results to Congress and the President at the same time. The President must, through U.S. representatives, push the United Nations, its related agencies (including the International Atomic Energy Agency), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank to set up independent, professional groups to review and audit their programs. Those proposals must include audit and reporting standards prepared by the Comptroller General and require reports be sent to the governing body for transmission to each member nation’s representative. The President may allow U.S. participation in the International Fertilizer Development Center and use funds here to help it. Congress also thinks the President should ask U.S. U.N. representatives to encourage specialized U.N. agencies to move technical assistance funding into the United Nations Development Program. After December 29, 1981, the President may allow U.S. participation in and use of funds under subchapter I to assist the International Food Policy Research Institute on terms he sets.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §2221

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)When he determines it to be in the national interest, the President is authorized to make voluntary contributions on a grant basis to international organizations and to programs administered by such organizations, and in the case of the Indus Basin Development Fund administered by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to make grants and loans payable as to principal and interest in United States dollars and subject to the provisions of section 2151t(b) of this title, on such terms and conditions as he may determine, in order to further the purposes of subchapter I of this chapter.
(b)
(c)No contributions by the United States shall be made to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East except on the condition that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency take all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army or any other guerrilla type organization or who has engaged in any act of terrorism.
(d)In any case in which a fund established solely by United States contributions under this chapter or any other Act is administered by an international organization under the terms of an agreement between the United States and such international organization, such agreement shall provide that the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct such audits as are necessary to assure that such fund is administered in accordance with such agreement. The President shall undertake to modify any existing agreement entered into before November 14, 1967, to conform to the requirements of the preceding sentence. The Comptroller General shall report simultaneously to the Congress and the President the results of the audits conducted under this subsection.
(e)(1)In the case of the United Nations and its affiliated organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the President shall, acting through the United States representative to such organizations, propose and actively seek the establishment by the governing authorities of such organizations of external, professionally qualified groups of appropriate size for the purpose of providing an independent and continuous program of selective examination, review, evaluation, and audits of the programs and activities of such organizations. Such proposal shall provide that such groups shall be established in accordance with such terms of reference as such governing authority may prescribe and that the reports of such groups on each examination, review, evaluation, or audit shall be submitted directly to such governing authority for transmittal to the representative of each individual member nation. Such proposal shall further include a statement of auditing and reporting standards, as prepared by the Comptroller General of the United States, for the consideration of the governing authority of the international organization concerned to assist in formulating terms of reference for such review and evaluation groups.
(2)In the case of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank, the President shall, acting through the United States representative to such organizations, propose and actively seek the establishment by the governing authorities of such organizations professionally qualified groups of appropriate size for the purpose of providing an independent and continuous program of selective examination, review, evaluation, and audit of the programs and activities of such organizations. Such proposal shall provide that such groups shall be established in accordance with such terms of reference as such governing authorities may prescribe, and that the reports of such groups on each examination, review, evaluation, or audit shall be submitted directly to such governing authority for transmittal to the representative of each individual member nation. Such proposal shall further include a statement of auditing and reporting standards, as prepared by the Comptroller General of the United States, for the consideration of the governing authority of the international organization concerned to assist in formulating terms of reference for such review and evaluation groups.
(f)The President is hereby authorized to permit United States participation in the International Fertilizer Development Center and is authorized to use any of the funds made available under this part for the purpose of furnishing assistance to the Center on such terms and conditions as he may determine.
(g)It is the sense of the Congress that the President should instruct the appropriate representatives of the United States to the United Nations to encourage the specialized agencies of the United Nations to transfer the funding of technical assistance programs carried out by such agencies to the United Nations Development Program.
(h)The President is authorized to permit the United States to participate in and to use any of the funds made available under subchapter I of this chapter after December 29, 1981, for the purpose of furnishing assistance (on such terms and conditions as the President may determine) to the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (d), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 87–195, Sept. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 424, known as the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2151 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1981—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 97–113, § 734(a)(1), struck out subsec. (b) which limited contributions to United Nations Development Program and restricted assistance to Cuba. See section 2370(f) of this title. Subsec. (e)(3). Pub. L. 97–113, § 734(a)(1), struck out par. (3) which required reports by the President and the General Accounting Office of their evaluation of reports of international organizations to United States representatives on those organizations. See section 2394 of this title. Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 97–113, § 311(a), added subsec. (h). 1980—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 96–533, § 702(a), required the Comptroller General to report to Congress and the President the results of the audits. Subsec. (e)(1). Pub. L. 96–533, § 702(b)(1)–(3), substituted “organizations of external, professionally” for “organizations a single professionally”, “groups” for “group” in three places, “evaluation, and audits” for “and evaluation”, and “evaluation, or audit” for “and evaluation”. Subsec. (e)(2). Pub. L. 96–533, § 702(b)(4), (5), required audits of programs and activities and reports of professionally qualified groups to include such audits. Subsec. (e)(3). Pub. L. 96–533, § 702(b)(6), required the Comptroller General to include in the reports to Congress and the President his evaluation of the reports received by the United States representatives to the international organizations and related information. 1978—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 95–424 substituted “section 2151t(b) of this title” for “section 2161(d) of this title”. Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 95–424 added subsec. (g). 1975—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 94–161 added subsec. (f). 1973—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 93–189 added subsec. (e). 1969—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 91–175 omitted provisions dealing with Israel and Arab governments taking steps toward repatriation of refugees and the extent and success of the United Nations and Arab governments to rectify refugees relief rolls, as criteria for the President to use in determining whether to furnish assistance for such refugees through contributions to the United Nations, omitted provisions dealing with amount of contribution for the fiscal year 1967, and expanded prohibition against the inclusion of members of other guerrilla type organizations or refugees engaged in any act of terrorism. 1967—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 90–137 added subsec. (d). 1966—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 89–583, § 107(a), authorized in the case of the Indus Basin Development Executive grants and loans payable as to principal and interest in United States dollars and subject to the provisions of section 2161(d) of this title. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 89–583, § 107(b), substituted “United Nations Development Program” for “United Nations Expanded Program of Technical Assistance and the United States Special Fund” and restricted economic or technical assistance to Cuba. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 89–583, § 107(c), substituted provisions limiting contributions by the United States for fiscal year 1967 to $13,300,000, for provisions limiting contributions for calendar year 1966 to $15,200,000 and prohibited the making of contributions assisting any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the Palestine Liberation Army. 1965—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 89–171 limited contributions by the United States to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to $15,200,000 for the calendar year 1966.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

References to Subchapter I Deemed To Include Certain Parts of Subchapter IIReferences to subchapter I of this chapter are deemed to include parts IV (§ 2346 et seq.), VI (§ 2348 et seq.), and VIII (§ 2349aa et seq.) of subchapter II of this chapter, and references to subchapter II are deemed to exclude such parts. See section 202(b) of Pub. L. 92–226, set out as a note under section 2346 of this title, and section 2348c and 2349aa–5 of this title.

Effective Date

of 1978 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 95–424 effective Oct. 1, 1978, see section 605 of Pub. L. 95–424, set out as a note under section 2151 of this title. Use of Contributions for Projects in Cuba Pub. L. 91–194, title I, § 100, Feb. 9, 1970, 84 Stat. 5, provided in part: “That the President shall seek to assure that no contribution to the United Nations Development Program authorized by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended [section 2151 et seq. of this title], shall be used for projects for economic or technical assistance to the Government of Cuba, so long as Cuba is governed by the Castro regime.” Similar provisions were contained in Pub. L. 89–691, title I, § 100, Oct. 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 1018; Pub. L. 90–249, title I, § 100, Jan. 2, 1968, 81 Stat. 936; Pub. L. 90–581, title I, § 100, Oct. 17, 1968, 82 Stat. 1137.

Executive Documents

Delegation of Functions For delegation of functions of President under this section, see Ex. Ord. No. 12163, Sept. 29, 1979, 44 F.R. 56673, as amended, set out as a note under section 2381 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 2221

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73