AMENDMENTS TO THE VIETNAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION ACT OF 2000.

SEC. 227. AMENDMENTS TO THE VIETNAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION ACT OF 2000. (a) Purposes of the Act.—Section 202 of the Vietnam Education Foundation Act of 2000 (title II of division B of H.R. 5666, as enacted by section 1(a)(4) of Public Law 106—554 and contained in appendix D of that Act; 114 Stat. 2763A-255) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting “in the United States” after “technology)”; and (2) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking “appropriate Vietnamese institutions” and inserting “academic institutions in Vietnam”. (b) Election of the Chair.—Section 205(c) of such Act is amended by inserting “voting members of the” after “The”. (c) Doties of the Board.—Section 205(e) of such Act is amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following: “(1) provide overall supervision and direction of the Foundation; 116 STAT. 1370 “(2) establish criteria for the eligibility of applicants, including criteria established by section 206(b), and for the selection of fellowship recipients; and “(3) select the fellowship recipients.”. (d) Treatment of Presidential Appointees to the Board of Directors.—Section 205 of such Act is amended— (1) in subsection (f)— (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: “(1) In general.—Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), each member of the Board shall serve without compensation.”; and (B) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(3) Compensation of presidential appointees.—The members of the Board appointed under subsection (a)(6) shall be paid at the daily equivalent of the rate of basic pay payable for positions at level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (including travel time) during which the member is engaged in the actual performance of duties as a Board member.”; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(g) Treatment of Presidential Appointees as Special Government Employees.—The members of the Board appointed under subsection (a)(6) shall be special Government employees, as defined in section 202(a) of title 18, United States Code.”. (e) Travel Regulations.—Section 205 of such Act, as amended by subsection (d), is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(h) Travel Regulations.—Members of the Board shall be subject to the same travel regulations as apply to officers and employees of the Department of State.”. (f) Vacancies.—Section 205(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(3)(A) Any member appointed to fill a vacancy prior to the expiration of the term for which his or her predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the remainder of such term. “(B) Upon the expiration of his or her term of office, any member may continue to serve until a successor is appointed.”. (g) English Proficiency.—Section 206(a)(2) of such Act is amended to read as follows: “(2) Scientific and technical vocabulary in English.—Fellowships awarded to Vietnamese nationals under paragraph (1) may include funding to improve English proficiency in a fellowship recipient’s field of study.”. (h) Selection Criteria.—Section 206(b) of such Act is amended— (1) in paragraph (1), by striking “Vietnamese candidates for fellowships” and inserting “Fellowship candidates from Vietnam”; and (2) in paragraph (2), by striking “teaching candidates” and inserting “candidates for teaching fellowships”. (i) Annual Report.—Such Act is amended— (1) in section 207(d), by striking “Board” and inserting “Secretary of the Treasury”; and (2) in section 209(b)— (A) by striking “Foundation” and inserting “Board”; and 116 STAT. 1371 (B) by striking “its operations under this title” and inserting “the operations of the Foundation under this title, including the financial condition of the Foundation”. (j) Compensation of Executive Director.—Section 208(d) of such Act is amended by striking “level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316” and inserting “level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315”. (k) Clerical Corrections.—Such Act is amended— (1) in section 206(d)— (A) in the subsection heading, by striking “Matching” and inserting “Cost-Sharing”; and (B) by striking “matching” and inserting “cost-sharing”; (2) in section 206(e)— (A) by striking “proficiency” and inserting “progress”; and (B) by inserting before the period at the end the following: “and applicable law”; (3) in section 208(a), by striking “Secretary” and inserting “Director”; (4) in section 208(d), by striking “title V” and inserting “title 5”; and (5) in section 209(a)(5), by striking “District of Columbia” and inserting “metropolitan Washington, D.C., area”.