FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE WITHIN THE FOREIGN SERVICE.

SEC. 191. FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE WITHIN THE FOREIGN SERVICE. (a) Regulations.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall promulgate regulations— (1) establishing hiring preferences for Foreign Service Officer candidates competent in languages, with priority preference given to those languages in which the Department of State has a deficit; (2) establishing a standard that employees will not receive long-term training in more than 3 languages, and requiring that employees achieve full professional proficiency (S4/R4) in 1 language as a condition for training in a third, with exceptions for priority needs of the service at the discretion of the Director General; (3) requiring that employees receiving long-term training in a language, or hired with a hiring preference for a language, serve at least 2 tours in jobs requiring that language, with exceptions for certain limited-use languages and priority needs of the service at the discretion of the Director General; (4) requiring that significant consideration be given to foreign language competence and use in the evaluation, assignment, and promotion of all Foreign Service Officers of the Department of State, the Agency for International Development, and the United States Information Agency; (5) requiring the identification of appropriate Washington, D.C. metropolitan area positions as language-designated; and (6) requiring remedial training and suspension of language differential payments for employees receiving such payments who have failed to maintain required levels of proficiency. (b) Repeal.—Section 164 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (22 U.S.C. 4001 note; Public Law 101–246) is repealed.