Congress·In Progress·H.R. 6196

Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act

House Bill Would Shift U.S. Foreign Aid Control to Local Groups in Recipient Countries

Nov 20, 2025·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

StalledNext up: A house committee

This bill is in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. It has not seen any action since March 25, 2026, and is currently considered stalled. The committee must take further action for the bill to move forward.

Legislative Progress

House

No action since March 2026

Senate

President

Law

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 7710 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 7710 (118th) →

Key Points

Congress encourages the main U.S. foreign aid agency to shift more development and disaster-relief work to local organizations and local governments in the countries receiving aid.
The agency would be pushed to make it easier for local groups to apply, including accepting proposals in local languages and doing more outreach so smaller or informal groups can compete.
The bill tells the agency to change its internal rules within 180 days of enactment so locally led projects become the normal way it runs aid programs.
It lets the agency give local partners more help covering overhead costs and delay some registration and reporting steps, so local groups can start work sooner.
It requires regular public reporting to Congress on how much money is reaching local partners and whether the new tools are improving speed, sustainability, and accountability.

Foreign Policy

Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

How this policy affects specific groups of people

Mixed Impacts(1)

Federal Employee

Neutral

Milestones

3 milestones4 actions

Mar 26, 2026House

Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 36 - 10.

The committee approved this bill and is sending it to the full chamber for a vote. This is a significant step — most bills never get this far.

Mar 26, 2026House

Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

Nov 20, 2025House

Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Nov 20, 2025

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

Related News

5 articles

Devex·Mar 22, 2024

House committee passes bill to make local funding easier for USAID

The Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support. The bill aims to simplify USAID's grantmaking process, allowing local partners to submit applications in their native languages and increasing overhead cost allowances.

Center

The Iowa Torch·Mar 23, 2024

Ernst leads bipartisan push to end taxpayer dollar abuse at USAID

Senators Joni Ernst and Chris Coons introduced legislation to improve USAID collaboration with local partners. The bill seeks to end 'abuses of taxpayer dollars' by shifting aid from large international contractors to local organizations that understand community needs better.

Center Right

Devex·Mar 25, 2024

Money Matters: New law makes it easier for USAID to spend locally

While the 2024 budget includes steep cuts to development spending, the Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act offers a 'boost' by authorizing USAID to restrict competition to local entities for awards up to $25 million and allowing more flexible reporting timeframes.

Center

No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.