II Calendar No. 398 118THCONGRESS 2 DSESSION H. R. 8369 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY20, 2024 Received; read the first time M AY21, 2024 Read the second time and placed on the calendar AN ACT To provide for the expeditious delivery of defense articles and defense services for Israel and other matters. 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 ‘‘Israel Security Assist-4 ance Support Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists 8 launched a massive, unprovoked war on Israel, kill-9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 HR 8369 PCS ing over 1,200 innocent people and taking over 240 1 hostages, including American citizens. 2 (2) Since October 7, Israel has faced attacks by 3 Iran and its proxies including Hezbollah, Hamas, 4 and the Houthis, which have required significant 5 military responses. 6 (3) Under the terms of a 2016 Memorandum of 7 Understanding, the United States provides Israel 8 with $3.8 billion per year in security assistance and 9 missile defense funding from fiscal years 2019 10 through 2028, which is subject to the approval of 11 Congress. 12 (4) Thus far in fiscal year 2024, Congress has 13 enacted regular and supplemental legislation appro-14 priating $12.5 billion in security assistance and mis-15 sile defense for Israel without any additional condi-16 tions. 17 (5) Congress plays a vital role in oversight and 18 approval of direct commercial sales and foreign mili-19 tary sales to security partners around the world, in-20 cluding Israel. 21 (6) In May 2024, it was reported that Presi-22 dent Biden ordered a pause on certain defense arti-23 cles ready for imminent delivery to Israel, without 24 having consulted with Congress. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 HR 8369 PCS (7) On May 8, 2024, President Biden stated re-1 garding Israel, ‘‘We’re not going to supply the weap-2 ons and artillery shells’’. 3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4 Congress— 5 (1) condemns the Biden Administration’s deci-6 sion to pause certain arms transfers to Israel as 7 Israel faces unprecedented threats from Iran and its 8 proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the 9 Houthis; 10 (2) calls on the Biden Administration to allow 11 all previously approved arms transfers to Israel to 12 proceed quickly to ensure that Israel can defend 13 itself and defeat threats from Iran and its proxies, 14 including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis; 15 (3) calls on the Biden Administration to utilize 16 all congressionally appropriated funds for security 17 assistance for Israel as Congress intended; 18 (4) stands with Israel as it defends itself 19 against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and 20 other terrorists; and 21 (5) reaffirms Israel’s right to self-defense. 22 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION. 23 None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made 24 available under any Act appropriating funds for the De-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 HR 8369 PCS partment of Defense or the Department of State for fiscal 1 year 2024 or any prior years may be made available— 2 (1) to withhold, halt, reverse, or cancel the de-3 livery of defense articles or defense services from the 4 United States to Israel; or 5 (2) to pay the salary or expenses of any officer 6 or employee of the Department of Defense or the 7 Department of State who takes any action to sup-8 port or further the withholding, halting, reversal, or 9 cancellation of the delivery of such defense articles 10 or services. 11 SEC. 5. PROMPT DELIVERY. 12 (a) P ROMPTDELIVERY OFDEFENSEARTICLES AND 13 S ERVICES.—The Secretary of Defense, in coordination 14 with the Secretary of State, shall ensure prompt delivery 15 of all defense articles and services for Israel which are ex-16 pected to be delivered in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, in-17 cluding— 18 (1) those contracted through the Foreign Mili-19 tary Sales system; 20 (2) those supported by prior Acts making ap-21 propriations for the Department of Defense; and 22 (3) those provided pursuant to a declaration in 23 section 506(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 24 1961. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 HR 8369 PCS (b) PROMPTDELIVERY OFDIRECTCOMMERCIAL 1 S ALES.—The Secretary of State shall ensure prompt ap-2 proval and delivery of all direct commercial sales of de-3 fense articles and services for Israel which are expected 4 to be delivered in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, including 5 those for the Ministry of Public Security. 6 (c) P ROMPTDELIVERY OFWITHHELDITEMS.—Any 7 defense article and defense service described in subsection 8 (a) or (b) of this section that were withheld from delivery 9 as of the date of the enactment of this Act shall be deliv-10 ered to Israel not later than 15 days after the date of 11 the enactment of this Act. 12 SEC. 6. WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS. 13 (a) W ITHHOLDING OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 14 F UNDS.—None of the unobligated balances of funds made 15 available by prior Acts making appropriations for the De-16 partment of Defense under the heading ‘‘Operation and 17 Maintenance, Defense-Wide’’ for the immediate Office of 18 the Secretary of Defense that are available as of the date 19 of the enactment of this Act may be obligated or expended 20 until the Secretary of Defense certifies and reports to the 21 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa-22 tives and the Senate that the requirements of section 5(c) 23 have been met. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 HR 8369 PCS (b) WITHHOLDING OF DEPARTMENT OF STATE 1 F UNDS.—None of the unobligated balances of funds made 2 available by prior Acts making appropriations for the De-3 partment of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Pro-4 grams under the heading ‘‘Diplomatic Programs’’ for the 5 Office of the Secretary that are available as of the date 6 of the enactment of this Act may be obligated or expended 7 until the Secretary of State certifies and reports to the 8 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa-9 tives and the Senate that the requirements of section 5(c) 10 have been met. 11 (c) W ITHHOLDING OF FINANCIALSERVICES AND 12 G ENERALGOVERNMENT FUNDS.—None of the unobli-13 gated balances of funds made available by prior Acts mak-14 ing appropriations for Financial Services and General 15 Government under the heading ‘‘Executive Office of the 16 President and Funds Appropriated To the President—Na-17 tional Security Council and Homeland Security Council’’ 18 that are available as of the date of the enactment of this 19 Act may be obligated or expended until the President cer-20 tifies and reports to the Committee on Appropriations of 21 the House of Representatives and the Senate that the re-22 quirements of section 5(c) have been met. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 HR 8369 PCS SEC. 7. OBLIGATION REQUIREMENT. 1 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec-2 retary of Defense and the Secretary of State shall obligate 3 any remaining unobligated balances of funds appropriated 4 or otherwise made available for assistance for Israel not 5 later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 6 Act. 7 SEC. 8. REPORTS. 8 (a) I NSPECTORGENERALREPORT.—Not later than 9 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 10 Inspectors General of the Department of Defense and the 11 Department of State shall jointly submit to Congress a 12 report on any actions taken by executive branch officials 13 before the date of the enactment of this Act to withhold, 14 halt, reverse, or cancel the delivery of defense articles and 15 defense services to Israel. 16 (b) M ONTHLYSECURITYASSISTANCEREPORT.—Not 17 later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 18 and every 30 days thereafter through fiscal year 2025, the 19 Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary 20 of State, shall provide a written report to the Committees 21 on Appropriations, Armed Services, and Foreign Affairs 22 of the House of Representatives and the Committees on 23 Appropriations, Armed Services, and Foreign Relations of 24 the Senate describing United States security assistance 25 provided to Israel since October 7, 2023, including a com-26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 HR 8369 PCS prehensive list of the defense articles and services provided 1 to Israel and the associated authority and funding used 2 to provide such articles and services: Provided, That such 3 report shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 4 be accompanied by a classified annex. 5 (c) R EPORT ONPRIORITYDEFENSEARTICLES AND 6 S ERVICES.—Not later than 30 days after the date of en-7 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in coordina-8 tion with the Secretary of State, shall provide a written 9 report to the Committees on Appropriations, Armed Serv-10 ices, and Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 11 and the Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services, 12 and Foreign Relations of the Senate describing urgent and 13 high priority defense articles and defense services for 14 Israel and steps taken or planned to expedite the delivery 15 of such articles and services. 16 Passed the House of Representatives May 16, 2024. Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 398 118 TH CONGRESS 2 D S ESSION H. R. 8369 AN ACT To provide for the expeditious delivery of defense articles and defense services for Israel and other matters. M AY 21, 2024 Read the second time and placed on the calendar VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 May 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H8369.PCS H8369 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS