II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1325
To establish a partnership with nations in the Western Hemisphere to pro-
mote economic competitiveness, democratic governance, and security, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL26, 2023
Mr. R
ISCH(for himself and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To establish a partnership with nations in the Western Hemi-
sphere to promote economic competitiveness, democratic
governance, and security, 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 ‘‘Western Hemisphere 4
Partnership Act of 2023’’. 5
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SEC. 2. UNITED STATES POLICY IN THE WESTERN HEMI-1
SPHERE. 2
It is the policy of the United States to promote eco-3
nomic competitiveness, democratic governance, and secu-4
rity in the Western Hemisphere by— 5
(1) encouraging stronger economic relations, re-6
spect for property rights, the rule of law, and en-7
forceable investment rules and labor and environ-8
mental standards; 9
(2) advancing the principles and practices ex-10
pressed in the Charter of the Organization of Amer-11
ican States, the American Declaration on the Rights 12
and Duties of Man, and the Inter-American Demo-13
cratic Charter; and 14
(3) enhancing the capacity and technical capa-15
bilities of democratic partner nation government in-16
stitutions, including civilian law enforcement, the ju-17
diciary, attorneys general, and security forces. 18
SEC. 3. PROMOTING SECURITY AND THE RULE OF LAW IN 19
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. 20
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-21
gress that the United States should strengthen security 22
cooperation with democratic partner nations in the West-23
ern Hemisphere to promote a secure hemisphere and to 24
address the negative impacts of transnational criminal or-25
ganizations and malign external state actors. 26
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(b) COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS.—The Secretary of 1
State, in coordination with the heads of other relevant 2
Federal agencies, should support the improvement of secu-3
rity conditions and the rule of law in the Western Hemi-4
sphere through collaborative efforts with democratic part-5
ners that— 6
(1) enhance the institutional capacity and tech-7
nical capabilities of defense and security institutions 8
in democratic partner nations to conduct national or 9
regional security missions, including through regular 10
bilateral and multilateral engagements, foreign mili-11
tary sales and financing, international military edu-12
cation, and training programs, and other means; 13
(2) provide technical assistance and material 14
support (including, as appropriate, radars, vessels, 15
and communications equipment) to relevant security 16
forces to disrupt, degrade, and dismantle organiza-17
tions involved in illicit narcotics trafficking, 18
transnational criminal activities, illicit mining, and 19
illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and 20
other illicit activities; 21
(3) enhance the institutional capacity and tech-22
nical capabilities of relevant civilian law enforce-23
ment, attorneys general, and judicial institutions 24
to— 25
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(A) strengthen the rule of law and trans-1
parent governance; and 2
(B) improve regional cooperation to dis-3
rupt, degrade, and dismantle transnational or-4
ganized criminal networks and terrorist organi-5
zations, including through training, 6
anticorruption initiatives, anti-money laun-7
dering programs, and strengthening cyber capa-8
bilities and resources; 9
(4) enhance port management and maritime se-10
curity partnerships and airport management and 11
aviation security partnerships to disrupt, degrade, 12
and dismantle transnational criminal networks and 13
facilitate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and 14
services; 15
(5) strengthen cooperation to improve border 16
security across the Western Hemisphere, dismantle 17
human smuggling and trafficking networks, and in-18
crease cooperation to demonstrably strengthen mi-19
gration management systems; 20
(6) counter the malign influence of state and 21
non-state actors and misinformation and 22
disinformation campaigns; 23
(7) disrupt illicit domestic and transnational fi-24
nancial networks; 25
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(8) foster mechanisms for cooperation on emer-1
gency preparedness and rapid recovery from natural 2
disasters, including by— 3
(A) supporting regional preparedness, re-4
covery, and emergency management centers to 5
facilitate rapid response to survey and help 6
maintain planning on regional disaster antici-7
pated needs and possible resources; and 8
(B) training disaster recovery officials on 9
latest techniques and lessons learned from 10
United States experiences; and 11
(9) foster regional mechanisms for early warn-12
ing and response to pandemics in the Western 13
Hemisphere, including through— 14
(A) improved cooperation with and re-15
search by the United States Centers for Disease 16
Control and Prevention through regional pan-17
demic response centers; 18
(B) personnel exchanges for technology 19
transfer and skills development; and 20
(C) surveying and mapping of health net-21
works to build local health capacity. 22
(c) L
IMITATIONS ON USE OFTECHNOLOGIES.— 23
Operational technologies transferred pursuant to sub-24
section (b) to partner governments for intelligence, de-25
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fense, or law enforcement purposes shall be used solely 1
for the purposes for which the technology was intended. 2
The United States shall take all necessary steps to ensure 3
that the use of such operational technologies is consistent 4
with United States law, including protections of freedom 5
of expression, freedom of movement, and freedom of asso-6
ciation. 7
SEC. 4. PROMOTING DIGITALIZATION AND CYBERSECURITY 8
IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. 9
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-10
gress that the United States should support digitalization 11
and expand cybersecurity cooperation in the Western 12
Hemisphere to promote regional economic prosperity and 13
security. 14
(b) P
ROMOTION OFDIGITALIZATION ANDCYBERSE-15
CURITY.—The Secretary of State, in coordination with the 16
heads of other relevant Federal agencies, should promote 17
digitalization and cybersecurity in the Western Hemi-18
sphere through collaborative efforts with democratic part-19
ners that— 20
(1) promote digital connectivity and facilitate e- 21
commerce by expanding access to information and 22
communications technology (ICT) supply chains that 23
adhere to high-quality security and reliability stand-24
ards, including— 25
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(A) to open market access on a national 1
treatment, nondiscriminatory basis; and 2
(B) to strengthen the cybersecurity and 3
cyber resilience of partner countries; 4
(2) advance the provision of digital government 5
services (e-government) that, to the greatest extent 6
possible, promote transparency, lower business costs, 7
and expand citizens’ access to public services and 8
public information; and 9
(3) develop robust cybersecurity partnerships 10
to— 11
(A) promote the inclusion of components 12
and architectures in information and commu-13
nications technology (ICT) supply chains from 14
participants in initiatives that adhere to high- 15
quality security and reliability standards; 16
(B) share best practices to mitigate cyber 17
threats to critical infrastructure from ICT ar-18
chitectures by technology providers with close 19
ties to, or that are susceptible to pressure from, 20
governments or security services without reli-21
able legal checks on governmental powers; 22
(C) effectively respond to cybersecurity 23
threats, including state-sponsored threats; and 24
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(D) to strengthen resilience against 1
cyberattacks and cybercrime. 2
SEC. 5. PROMOTING ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL PART-3
NERSHIPS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. 4
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-5
gress that the United States should enhance economic and 6
commercial ties with democratic partners to promote pros-7
perity in the Western Hemisphere by modernizing and 8
strengthening trade capacity-building and trade facilita-9
tion initiatives, encouraging market-based economic re-10
forms, strengthening labor and environmental standards, 11
and encouraging transparency and adherence to the rule 12
of law in investment dealings. 13
(b) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi-14
nation with the United States Trade Representative, the 15
Chief Executive Officer of the Development Finance Cor-16
poration, and the heads of other relevant Federal agencies, 17
should support the improvement of economic conditions in 18
the Western Hemisphere through collaborative efforts with 19
democratic partners that— 20
(1) facilitate a more open, transparent, and 21
competitive environment for United States busi-22
nesses and promote robust and comprehensive trade 23
capacity-building and trade facilitation by— 24
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(A) reducing trade and nontariff barriers 1
between the countries in the region, establishing 2
a mechanism for pursuing Mutual Recognition 3
Agreements and Formalized Regulatory Co-4
operation Agreements in priority sectors of the 5
economy; 6
(B) establishing a forum for discussing 7
and evaluating technical and other assistance 8
needs to help establish streamlined ‘‘single win-9
dow’’ processes to facilitate movement of goods 10
and common customs arrangements and proce-11
dures to lower costs of goods in transit and 12
speed to destination; 13
(C) building relationships and exchanges 14
between relevant regulatory bodies in the 15
United States and democratic partners in the 16
Western Hemisphere to promote best practices 17
and transparency in rulemaking, implementa-18
tion, and enforcement, and provide training and 19
assistance to help improve supply chain man-20
agement in the Western Hemisphere; 21
(D) establishing regional fora for identi-22
fying, raising, and addressing supply chain 23
management issues, including infrastructure 24
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needs and strengthening of investment rules 1
and regulatory frameworks; 2
(E) establishing a dedicated program of 3
trade missions and reverse trade missions to in-4
crease commercial contacts and ties between the 5
United States and Western Hemisphere partner 6
countries; and 7
(F) strengthening labor and environmental 8
standards in the region; 9
(2) establish frameworks or mechanisms to re-10
view and address the long-term financial sustain-11
ability and national security implications of foreign 12
investments in strategic sectors or services; 13
(3) establish competitive and transparent infra-14
structure project selection and procurement proc-15
esses that promote transparency, open competition, 16
financial sustainability, and robust adherence to 17
global standards and norms; and 18
(4) advance robust and comprehensive energy 19
production and integration, including through a 20
more open, transparent, and competitive environ-21
ment for United States companies competing in the 22
Western Hemisphere, including by— 23
(A) facilitating further development of in-24
tegrated regional energy markets; 25
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(B) improving management of grids, in-1
cluding technical capability to ensure the 2
functionality, safe and responsible management, 3
and quality of service of electricity providers, 4
carriers, and management and distribution sys-5
tems; 6
(C) facilitating private sector-led develop-7
ment of reliable and affordable power genera-8
tion capacity; 9
(D) establishing a process for surveying 10
grid capacity and management focused on iden-11
tifying electricity service efficiencies and estab-12
lishing cooperative mechanisms for providing 13
technical assistance for— 14
(i) grid management, power pricing, 15
and tariff issues; 16
(ii) establishing and maintaining ap-17
propriate regulatory best practices; and 18
(iii) proposals to establish regional 19
power grids for the purpose of promoting 20
the sale of excess supply to consumers 21
across borders; 22
(E) assessing the viability and effectiveness 23
of decentralizing power production and trans-24
mission and building micro-grid power networks 25
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to improve, when feasible, access to electricity, 1
particularly in rural and underserved commu-2
nities where centralized power grid connections 3
may not be feasible in the short to medium 4
term; and 5
(F) exploring opportunities to partner with 6
the private sector and multilateral institutions, 7
such as the World Bank and the Inter-Amer-8
ican Development Bank, to promote universal 9
access to reliable and affordable electricity in 10
the Western Hemisphere. 11
SEC. 6. PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY AND DEMOCRATIC 12
GOVERNANCE IN THE WESTERN HEMI-13
SPHERE. 14
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-15
gress that the United States should support efforts to 16
strengthen the capacity of democratic institutions and 17
processes in the Western Hemisphere to promote a more 18
transparent, democratic, and prosperous region. 19
(b) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi-20
nation with the Administrator of the United States Agen-21
cy for International Development and heads of other rel-22
evant Federal agencies, should support transparent, ac-23
countable, and democratic governance in the Western 24
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Hemisphere through collaborative efforts with democratic 1
partners that— 2
(1) strengthen the capacity of national electoral 3
institutions to ensure free, fair, and transparent 4
electoral processes, including through pre-election 5
assessment missions, technical assistance, and inde-6
pendent local and international election monitoring 7
and observation missions; 8
(2) enhance the capabilities of democratically 9
elected national legislatures, parliamentary bodies, 10
and autonomous regulatory institutions to conduct 11
oversight; 12
(3) strengthen the capacity of subnational gov-13
ernment institutions to govern in a transparent, ac-14
countable, and democratic manner, including 15
through training and technical assistance; 16
(4) combat corruption at local and national lev-17
els, including through trainings, cooperation agree-18
ments, and bilateral or multilateral anticorruption 19
mechanisms that strengthen attorneys general and 20
prosecutors’ offices; and 21
(5) strengthen the capacity of civil society to 22
conduct oversight of government institutions, build 23
the capacity of independent professional journalism, 24
facilitate substantive dialogue with government and 25
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the private sector to generate issue-based policies, 1
and mobilize local resources to carry out such activi-2
ties. 3
SEC. 7. WESTERN HEMISPHERE DEFINED. 4
In this Act, the term ‘‘Western Hemisphere’’ does not 5
include Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela, except for pur-6
poses of section 6. 7
Æ
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