Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014
Public Law 113-289 · H.R. 2901 · 113th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Barack Obama (D) on Dec 19, 2014 · International Affairs
Sponsor: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-3)
Cosponsors (107): Rep. Ted Poe, Rep. Tom Cole,
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014 - (Sec. 2) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) water and sanitation are critically important resources that impact many aspects of human life, and (2) the United States should be a global leader in helping provide sustainable access to clean water and sanitation for the world's most vulnerable populations.
(Sec. 3) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, to include the provision of safe hygiene among the goals of the program providing assistance for safe water and sanitation.
(Sec. 4) Directs the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), or the Administrator's designee, to serve concurrently as the USAID Global Water Coordinator, and to:
• oversee USAID water, sanitation, and hygiene programs;
• lead the implementation and revision, at least once every five years, of USAID's portion of the Global Water Strategy; and
• expand USAID's program capacity in high priority countries.
Directs the Secretary of State, or the Secretary's designee, to serve concurrently as the Department of State Special Advisor for Water Resources, and serve similar functions in the Department of State as the Global Water Coordinator does in USAID.
(Sec. 5) Directs the Administrator to ensure that USAID projects and programs are designed to achieve maximum impact and long-term sustainability by prioritizing countries based upon:
• the population using unimproved drinking water or sanitation sources;
• the number of children younger than five years of age who died from diarrheal disease; and
• the government's capacity and commitment to work with the United States to improve access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Directs the President to: (1) designate by October 1, 2015, at least 10 countries as high priority countries to be the primary recipients of U.S. government assistance under this Act during FY2016, and notify Congress of such designations; and (2) make new designations each year.
(Sec. 6) Directs the President, not later than October 1, 2017, October 1, 2022, and October 1, 2027, through the Secretary, the Administrator, and the heads of other federal departments and agencies, to submit a single government-wide Global Water Strategy to Congress that describes how the United States intends to:
• increase access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene in high priority countries;
• improve the management of water resources and watersheds in such countries; and
• work to prevent and resolve intra- and trans-boundary conflicts over water resources in such countries.
Requires: (1) the Global Water Strategy to include plans by USAID and the Department on how each entity carries out its responsibilities under this Act, and (2) the Administrator to develop for each high priority country a plan to increase access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
The record lists no related bills.
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 16 actions.
- Dec 19, 2014Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 113-289.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 18, 2014FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 16, 2014FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Dec 15, 2014FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- Dec 9, 2014CommitteeCommittee · Received in the Senate, read twice.
- Dec 8, 2014FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Poe (TX) asked unanimous consent to discharge from committee and consider.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Foreign Affairs discharged.
- Nov 20, 2014CommitteeCommittee · Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Unanimous Consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Aug 1, 2013CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
- CommitteeCommittee · Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H5265-5266, E1186-1187)
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in House
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
1 amendment offered to the bill, with the last recorded step of each.
- Agreed to
H.Amdt. 1155HouseRep. Ted PoeR-TX-2· offered Dec 8, 2014Agreed to
Amendment in the nature of a substitute inserts a complete new text.
Dec 8, 2014: On agreeing to the Poe (TX) amendment (A001) Agreed to without objection.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.