HR-1947 : Still Just a Bill

Supplemental Trade Review, Oversight, Noncompliance and General Enforcement Resources Act of 2015 or the STRONGER Act of 2015

Establishes in the U.S. Treasury the Trade Agreements Enforcement Trust Fund. Directs the Department of the Treasury to transfer to the Trust Fund an amount equal to $15 million of the countervailing duties and antidumping duties received in the Treasury for each fiscal year beginning after enactment of this Act. Limits the total amount of funds in the Trust Fund to $30 million.

Authorizes the President to make sums in the Trust Fund available to: (1) the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to take specified actions relating to enforcement of free trade agreements; and (2) the USTR, the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Labor, and other departments and agencies with relevant expertise to take specified actions relating to implementation assistance and local capacity building under such agreements. Prohibits amounts made available in the Trust Fund from being used to negotiate any new free trade agreement.

Directs the President to establish a permanent interagency committee to ensure that actions taken under under this Act relating to implementation assistance and local capacity building are effectively prioritized, targeted, coordinated, and implemented. Requires the United States to promote aid effectiveness and accountability through transparency, monitoring, evaluation, learning, and fostering local ownership and implementation of U.S. assistance through such activities by requiring the interagency committee to: (1) publish timely, comprehensive, and detailed information regarding such activities on a quarterly basis, consistent with the U.S. commitment to full compliance with the International Aid Transparency Initiative; (2) conduct evaluations that are independent, methodologically rigorous, made public in their entirety, and transmitted to the International Aid Transparency Initiative Registry; and (3) develop and implement procedures for ensuring that data and evaluation results inform decisionmaking and lead to the revision and promotion of best practices among relevant executive branch agencies.