I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 6181
To authorize the Secretary of State to support the establishment of an
ASEAN Center in the United States, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER2, 2023
Mr. C
ASTROof Texas (for himself and Mr. ISSA) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of State to support the establish-
ment of an ASEAN Center in the United States, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘U.S.-ASEAN Center 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ASEAN CENTER. 6
(a) D
EFINEDTERM.—In this section, the term 7
‘‘ASEAN’’ means the Association of Southeast Asian Na-8
tions. 9
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(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of State is au-1
thorized to enter into a public-private partnership for the 2
purposes of establishing a US-ASEAN Center in the 3
United States to support United States economic and cul-4
tural engagement with Southeast Asia. 5
(c) F
UNCTIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provi-6
sion of law, Secretary of State and the US-ASEAN Center 7
established pursuant to subsection (b) may— 8
(1) provide grants for research to support and 9
elevate the importance of the US-ASEAN partner-10
ship; 11
(2) facilitate activities to strengthen US- 12
ASEAN trade and investment; 13
(3) expand economic and technological relation-14
ships between ASEAN countries and the United 15
States into new areas of cooperation; 16
(4) provide training to United States citizens 17
and citizens of ASEAN countries that improve peo-18
ple-to-people ties; 19
(5) develop educational programs to increase 20
awareness for the United States and ASEAN coun-21
tries on the importance of relations between the 22
United States and ASEAN countries; and 23
(6) carry out other activities the Secretary con-24
siders necessary to strengthen ties between the 25
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United States and ASEAN countries and achieve the 1
objectives of the US-ASEAN Center. 2
(d) A
UTHORITY.—This section may be carried out 3
using any amounts authorized to be appropriated to the 4
Secretary of State, including amounts authorized to carry 5
out chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act 6
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.). 7
(e) P
ARAMETERS.—In carrying out this section, the 8
Secretary shall ensure that the activities of the US- 9
ASEAN Center do not duplicate current lines of effort 10
being conducted by the United States Government or its 11
grantees. 12
Æ
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