II
Calendar No. 51
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, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on For-
eign Relations
M
AY4, 2023
Reported by Mr. M
ENENDEZ, with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
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
SECTION1.SHORTTITLE. 3
ThisActmaybecitedasthe‘‘WesternHemisphere 4
PartnershipActof2023’’. 5
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SEC.2.UNITED STATESPOLICYINTHEWESTERN HEMI-1
SPHERE. 2
ItisthepolicyoftheUnitedStatestopromoteeco-3
nomiccompetitiveness,democraticgovernance,andsecu-4
rityintheWesternHemisphereby— 5
(1)encouragingstrongereconomicrelations,re-6
spectforpropertyrights,theruleoflaw,anden-7
forceableinvestmentrulesandlaborandenviron-8
mentalstandards; 9
(2)advancingtheprinciplesandpracticesex-10
pressedintheCharteroftheOrganizationofAmer-11
icanStates,theAmericanDeclarationontheRights 12
andDutiesofMan,andtheInter-AmericanDemo-13
craticCharter;and 14
(3)enhancingthecapacityandtechnicalcapa-15
bilitiesofdemocraticpartnernationgovernmentin-16
stitutions,includingcivilianlawenforcement,theju-17
diciary,attorneysgeneral,andsecurityforces. 18
SEC.3.PROMOTING SECURITY ANDTHERULEOFLAWIN 19
THEWESTERN HEMISPHERE. 20
(a)SENSEOFCONGRESS.—ItisthesenseofCon-21
gressthattheUnitedStatesshouldstrengthensecurity 22
cooperationwithdemocraticpartnernationsintheWest-23
ernHemispheretopromoteasecurehemisphereandto 24
addressthenegativeimpactsoftransnationalcriminalor-25
ganizationsandmalignexternalstateactors. 26
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(b)COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS.—TheSecretaryof 1
State,incoordinationwiththeheadsofotherrelevant 2
Federalagencies,shouldsupporttheimprovementofsecu-3
rityconditionsandtheruleoflawintheWesternHemi-4
spherethroughcollaborativeeffortswithdemocraticpart-5
nersthat— 6
(1)enhancetheinstitutionalcapacityandtech-7
nicalcapabilitiesofdefenseandsecurityinstitutions 8
indemocraticpartnernationstoconductnationalor 9
regionalsecuritymissions,includingthroughregular 10
bilateralandmultilateralengagements,foreignmili-11
tarysalesandfinancing,internationalmilitaryedu-12
cation,andtrainingprograms,andothermeans; 13
(2)providetechnicalassistanceandmaterial 14
support(including,asappropriate,radars,vessels, 15
andcommunicationsequipment)torelevantsecurity 16
forcestodisrupt,degrade,anddismantleorganiza-17
tionsinvolvedinillicitnarcoticstrafficking, 18
transnationalcriminalactivities,illicitmining,and 19
illegal,unreported,andunregulatedfishing,and 20
otherillicitactivities; 21
(3)enhancetheinstitutionalcapacityandtech-22
nicalcapabilitiesofrelevantcivilianlawenforce-23
ment,attorneysgeneral,andjudicialinstitutions 24
to— 25
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(A)strengthentheruleoflawandtrans-1
parentgovernance;and 2
(B)improveregionalcooperationtodis-3
rupt,degrade,anddismantletransnationalor-4
ganizedcriminalnetworksandterroristorgani-5
zations,includingthroughtraining, 6
anticorruptioninitiatives,anti-moneylaun-7
deringprograms,andstrengtheningcybercapa-8
bilitiesandresources; 9
(4)enhanceportmanagementandmaritimese-10
curitypartnershipsandairportmanagementand 11
aviationsecuritypartnershipstodisrupt,degrade, 12
anddismantletransnationalcriminalnetworksand 13
facilitatethelegitimateflowofpeople,goods,and 14
services; 15
(5)strengthencooperationtoimproveborder 16
securityacrosstheWesternHemisphere,dismantle 17
humansmugglingandtraffickingnetworks,andin-18
creasecooperationtodemonstrablystrengthenmi-19
grationmanagementsystems; 20
(6)counterthemaligninfluenceofstateand 21
non-stateactorsandmisinformationand 22
disinformationcampaigns; 23
(7)disruptillicitdomesticandtransnationalfi-24
nancialnetworks; 25
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(8)fostermechanismsforcooperationonemer-1
gencypreparednessandrapidrecoveryfromnatural 2
disasters,includingby— 3
(A)supportingregionalpreparedness,re-4
covery,andemergencymanagementcentersto 5
facilitaterapidresponsetosurveyandhelp 6
maintainplanningonregionaldisasterantici-7
patedneedsandpossibleresources;and 8
(B)trainingdisasterrecoveryofficialson 9
latesttechniquesandlessonslearnedfrom 10
UnitedStatesexperiences;and 11
(9)fosterregionalmechanismsforearlywarn-12
ingandresponsetopandemicsintheWestern 13
Hemisphere,includingthrough— 14
(A)improvedcooperationwithandre-15
searchbytheUnitedStatesCentersforDisease 16
ControlandPreventionthroughregionalpan-17
demicresponsecenters; 18
(B)personnelexchangesfortechnology 19
transferandskillsdevelopment;and 20
(C)surveyingandmappingofhealthnet-21
workstobuildlocalhealthcapacity. 22
(c)LIMITATIONSONUSEOFTECHNOLOGIES.— 23
Operationaltechnologiestransferredpursuanttosub-24
section(b)topartnergovernmentsforintelligence,de-25
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fense,orlawenforcementpurposesshallbeusedsolely 1
forthepurposesforwhichthetechnologywasintended. 2
TheUnitedStatesshalltakeallnecessarystepstoensure 3
thattheuseofsuchoperationaltechnologiesisconsistent 4
withUnitedStateslaw,includingprotectionsoffreedom 5
ofexpression,freedomofmovement,andfreedomofasso-6
ciation. 7
SEC.4.PROMOTING DIGITALIZATION ANDCYBERSECURITY 8
INTHEWESTERN HEMISPHERE. 9
(a)SENSEOFCONGRESS.—ItisthesenseofCon-10
gressthattheUnitedStatesshouldsupportdigitalization 11
andexpandcybersecuritycooperationintheWestern 12
Hemispheretopromoteregionaleconomicprosperityand 13
security. 14
(b)PROMOTIONOFDIGITALIZATIONANDCYBERSE-15
CURITY.—TheSecretaryofState,incoordinationwiththe 16
headsofotherrelevantFederalagencies,shouldpromote 17
digitalizationandcybersecurityintheWesternHemi-18
spherethroughcollaborativeeffortswithdemocraticpart-19
nersthat— 20
(1)promotedigitalconnectivityandfacilitatee- 21
commercebyexpandingaccesstoinformationand 22
communicationstechnology(ICT)supplychainsthat 23
adheretohigh-qualitysecurityandreliabilitystand-24
ards,including— 25
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(A)toopenmarketaccessonanational 1
treatment,nondiscriminatorybasis;and 2
(B)tostrengthenthecybersecurityand 3
cyberresilienceofpartnercountries; 4
(2)advancetheprovisionofdigitalgovernment 5
services(e-government)that,tothegreatestextent 6
possible,promotetransparency,lowerbusinesscosts, 7
andexpandcitizens’accesstopublicservicesand 8
publicinformation;and 9
(3)developrobustcybersecuritypartnerships 10
to— 11
(A)promotetheinclusionofcomponents 12
andarchitecturesininformationandcommu-13
nicationstechnology(ICT)supplychainsfrom 14
participantsininitiativesthatadheretohigh- 15
qualitysecurityandreliabilitystandards; 16
(B)sharebestpracticestomitigatecyber 17
threatstocriticalinfrastructurefromICTar-18
chitecturesbytechnologyproviderswithclose 19
tiesto,orthataresusceptibletopressurefrom, 20
governmentsorsecurityserviceswithoutreli-21
ablelegalchecksongovernmentalpowers; 22
(C)effectivelyrespondtocybersecurity 23
threats,includingstate-sponsoredthreats;and 24
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(D)tostrengthenresilienceagainst 1
cyberattacksandcybercrime. 2
SEC.5.PROMOTING ECONOMIC ANDCOMMERCIAL PART-3
NERSHIPS INTHEWESTERN HEMISPHERE. 4
(a)SENSEOFCONGRESS.—ItisthesenseofCon-5
gressthattheUnitedStatesshouldenhanceeconomicand 6
commercialtieswithdemocraticpartnerstopromotepros-7
perityintheWesternHemispherebymodernizingand 8
strengtheningtradecapacity-buildingandtradefacilita-9
tioninitiatives,encouragingmarket-basedeconomicre-10
forms,strengtheninglaborandenvironmentalstandards, 11
andencouragingtransparencyandadherencetotherule 12
oflawininvestmentdealings. 13
(b)INGENERAL.—TheSecretaryofState,incoordi-14
nationwiththeUnitedStatesTradeRepresentative,the 15
ChiefExecutiveOfficeroftheDevelopmentFinanceCor-16
poration,andtheheadsofotherrelevantFederalagencies, 17
shouldsupporttheimprovementofeconomicconditionsin 18
theWesternHemispherethroughcollaborativeeffortswith 19
democraticpartnersthat— 20
(1)facilitateamoreopen,transparent,and 21
competitiveenvironmentforUnitedStatesbusi-22
nessesandpromoterobustandcomprehensivetrade 23
capacity-buildingandtradefacilitationby— 24
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(A)reducingtradeandnontariffbarriers 1
betweenthecountriesintheregion,establishing 2
amechanismforpursuingMutualRecognition 3
AgreementsandFormalizedRegulatoryCo-4
operationAgreementsinprioritysectorsofthe 5
economy; 6
(B)establishingaforumfordiscussing 7
andevaluatingtechnicalandotherassistance 8
needstohelpestablishstreamlined‘‘singlewin-9
dow’’processestofacilitatemovementofgoods 10
andcommoncustomsarrangementsandproce-11
durestolowercostsofgoodsintransitand 12
speedtodestination; 13
(C)buildingrelationshipsandexchanges 14
betweenrelevantregulatorybodiesinthe 15
UnitedStatesanddemocraticpartnersinthe 16
WesternHemispheretopromotebestpractices 17
andtransparencyinrulemaking,implementa-18
tion,andenforcement,andprovidetrainingand 19
assistancetohelpimprovesupplychainman-20
agementintheWesternHemisphere; 21
(D)establishingregionalforaforidenti-22
fying,raising,andaddressingsupplychain 23
managementissues,includinginfrastructure 24
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needsandstrengtheningofinvestmentrules 1
andregulatoryframeworks; 2
(E)establishingadedicatedprogramof 3
trademissionsandreversetrademissionstoin-4
creasecommercialcontactsandtiesbetweenthe 5
UnitedStatesandWesternHemispherepartner 6
countries;and 7
(F)strengtheninglaborandenvironmental 8
standardsintheregion; 9
(2)establishframeworksormechanismstore-10
viewandaddressthelong-termfinancialsustain-11
abilityandnationalsecurityimplicationsofforeign 12
investmentsinstrategicsectorsorservices; 13
(3)establishcompetitiveandtransparentinfra-14
structureprojectselectionandprocurementproc-15
essesthatpromotetransparency,opencompetition, 16
financialsustainability,androbustadherenceto 17
globalstandardsandnorms;and 18
(4)advancerobustandcomprehensiveenergy 19
productionandintegration,includingthrougha 20
moreopen,transparent,andcompetitiveenviron-21
mentforUnitedStatescompaniescompetinginthe 22
WesternHemisphere,includingby— 23
(A)facilitatingfurtherdevelopmentofin-24
tegratedregionalenergymarkets; 25
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(B)improvingmanagementofgrids,in-1
cludingtechnicalcapabilitytoensurethe 2
functionality,safeandresponsiblemanagement, 3
andqualityofserviceofelectricityproviders, 4
carriers,andmanagementanddistributionsys-5
tems; 6
(C)facilitatingprivatesector-leddevelop-7
mentofreliableandaffordablepowergenera-8
tioncapacity; 9
(D)establishingaprocessforsurveying 10
gridcapacityandmanagementfocusedoniden-11
tifyingelectricityserviceefficienciesandestab-12
lishingcooperativemechanismsforproviding 13
technicalassistancefor— 14
(i)gridmanagement,powerpricing, 15
andtariffissues; 16
(ii)establishingandmaintainingap-17
propriateregulatorybestpractices;and 18
(iii)proposalstoestablishregional 19
powergridsforthepurposeofpromoting 20
thesaleofexcesssupplytoconsumers 21
acrossborders; 22
(E)assessingtheviabilityandeffectiveness 23
ofdecentralizingpowerproductionandtrans-24
missionandbuildingmicro-gridpowernetworks 25
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toimprove,whenfeasible,accesstoelectricity, 1
particularlyinruralandunderservedcommu-2
nitieswherecentralizedpowergridconnections 3
maynotbefeasibleintheshorttomedium 4
term;and 5
(F)exploringopportunitiestopartnerwith 6
theprivatesectorandmultilateralinstitutions, 7
suchastheWorldBankandtheInter-Amer-8
icanDevelopmentBank,topromoteuniversal 9
accesstoreliableandaffordableelectricityin 10
theWesternHemisphere. 11
SEC.6.PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY ANDDEMOCRATIC 12
GOVERNANCE INTHE WESTERN HEMI-13
SPHERE. 14
(a)SENSEOFCONGRESS.—ItisthesenseofCon-15
gressthattheUnitedStatesshouldsupporteffortsto 16
strengthenthecapacityofdemocraticinstitutionsand 17
processesintheWesternHemispheretopromoteamore 18
transparent,democratic,andprosperousregion. 19
(b)INGENERAL.—TheSecretaryofState,incoordi-20
nationwiththeAdministratoroftheUnitedStatesAgen-21
cyforInternationalDevelopmentandheadsofotherrel-22
evantFederalagencies,shouldsupporttransparent,ac-23
countable,anddemocraticgovernanceintheWestern 24
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Hemispherethroughcollaborativeeffortswithdemocratic 1
partnersthat— 2
(1)strengthenthecapacityofnationalelectoral 3
institutionstoensurefree,fair,andtransparent 4
electoralprocesses,includingthroughpre-election 5
assessmentmissions,technicalassistance,andinde-6
pendentlocalandinternationalelectionmonitoring 7
andobservationmissions; 8
(2)enhancethecapabilitiesofdemocratically 9
electednationallegislatures,parliamentarybodies, 10
andautonomousregulatoryinstitutionstoconduct 11
oversight; 12
(3)strengthenthecapacityofsubnationalgov-13
ernmentinstitutionstogoverninatransparent,ac-14
countable,anddemocraticmanner,including 15
throughtrainingandtechnicalassistance; 16
(4)combatcorruptionatlocalandnationallev-17
els,includingthroughtrainings,cooperationagree-18
ments,andbilateralormultilateralanticorruption 19
mechanismsthatstrengthenattorneysgeneraland 20
prosecutors’offices;and 21
(5)strengthenthecapacityofcivilsocietyto 22
conductoversightofgovernmentinstitutions,build 23
thecapacityofindependentprofessionaljournalism, 24
facilitatesubstantivedialoguewithgovernmentand 25
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theprivatesectortogenerateissue-basedpolicies, 1
andmobilizelocalresourcestocarryoutsuchactivi-2
ties. 3
SEC.7.WESTERN HEMISPHERE DEFINED. 4
InthisAct,theterm‘‘WesternHemisphere’’doesnot 5
includeCuba,Nicaragua,orVenezuela,exceptforpur-6
posesofsection6. 7
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 8
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere 9
Partnership Act of 2023’’. 10
SEC. 2. UNITED STATES POLICY IN THE WESTERN HEMI-11
SPHERE. 12
It is the policy of the United States to promote eco-13
nomic competitiveness, democratic governance, and security 14
in the Western Hemisphere by— 15
(1) encouraging stronger economic relations, re-16
spect for property rights, the rule of law, and enforce-17
able investment rules and labor and environmental 18
standards; 19
(2) advancing the principles and practices ex-20
pressed in the Charter of the Organization of Amer-21
ican States, the American Declaration on the Rights 22
and Duties of Man, and the Inter-American Demo-23
cratic Charter; and 24
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(3) enhancing the capacity and technical capa-1
bilities of democratic partner nation government in-2
stitutions, including civilian law enforcement, the ju-3
diciary, attorneys general, and security forces. 4
SEC. 3. PROMOTING SECURITY AND THE RULE OF LAW IN 5
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. 6
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 7
that the United States should strengthen security coopera-8
tion with democratic partner nations in the Western Hemi-9
sphere to promote a secure hemisphere and to address the 10
negative impacts of transnational criminal organizations 11
and malign external state actors. 12
(b) C
OLLABORATIVE EFFORTS.—The Secretary of 13
State, in coordination with the heads of other relevant Fed-14
eral agencies, should support the improvement of security 15
conditions and the rule of law in the Western Hemisphere 16
through collaborative efforts with democratic partners 17
that— 18
(1) enhance the institutional capacity and tech-19
nical capabilities of defense and security institutions 20
in democratic partner nations to conduct national or 21
regional security missions, including through regular 22
bilateral and multilateral engagements, foreign mili-23
tary sales and financing, international military edu-24
cation and training programs, expanding the Na-25
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tional Guard State Partnership Programs, and other 1
means; 2
(2) provide technical assistance and material 3
support (including, as appropriate, radars, vessels, 4
and communications equipment) to relevant security 5
forces to disrupt, degrade, and dismantle organiza-6
tions involved in the illicit trafficking of narcotics 7
and precursor chemicals, transnational criminal ac-8
tivities, illicit mining, and illegal, unreported, and 9
unregulated fishing, and other illicit activities; 10
(3) enhance the institutional capacity, legit-11
imacy, and technical capabilities of relevant civilian 12
law enforcement, attorneys general, and judicial insti-13
tutions to— 14
(A) strengthen the rule of law and trans-15
parent governance; 16
(B) combat corruption and kleptocracy in 17
the region; and 18
(C) improve regional cooperation to disrupt, 19
degrade, and dismantle transnational organized 20
criminal networks and terrorist organizations, 21
including through training, anticorruption ini-22
tiatives, anti-money laundering programs, and 23
strengthening cyber capabilities and resources; 24
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(4) enhance port management and maritime se-1
curity partnerships and airport management and 2
aviation security partnerships to disrupt, degrade, 3
and dismantle transnational criminal networks and 4
facilitate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and 5
services; 6
(5) strengthen cooperation to improve border se-7
curity across the Western Hemisphere, dismantle 8
human smuggling and trafficking networks, and in-9
crease cooperation to demonstrably strengthen migra-10
tion management systems; 11
(6) counter the malign influence of state and 12
non-state actors and disinformation campaigns; 13
(7) disrupt illicit domestic and transnational fi-14
nancial networks; 15
(8) foster mechanisms for cooperation on emer-16
gency preparedness and rapid recovery from natural 17
disasters, including by— 18
(A) supporting regional preparedness, re-19
covery, and emergency management centers to 20
facilitate rapid response to survey and help 21
maintain planning on regional disaster antici-22
pated needs and possible resources; 23
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(B) training disaster recovery officials on 1
latest techniques and lessons learned from United 2
States experiences; 3
(C) making available, preparing, and trans-4
ferring on-hand nonlethal supplies, and pro-5
viding training on the use of such supplies, for 6
humanitarian or health purposes to respond to 7
unforeseen emergencies; and 8
(D) conducting medical support operations 9
and medical humanitarian missions, such as 10
hospital ship deployments and base-operating 11
services, to the extent required by the operation; 12
(9) foster regional mechanisms for early warning 13
and response to pandemics in the Western Hemi-14
sphere, including through— 15
(A) improved cooperation with and research 16
by the United States Centers for Disease Control 17
and Prevention through regional pandemic re-18
sponse centers; 19
(B) personnel exchanges for technology 20
transfer and skills development; and 21
(C) surveying and mapping of health net-22
works to build local health capacity; 23
(10) promote the meaningful participation of 24
women across all political processes, including con-25
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flict prevention and conflict resolution and post-con-1
flict relief and recovery efforts; and 2
(11) hold accountable actors that violate political 3
and civil rights. 4
(c) L
IMITATIONS ONUSE OFTECHNOLOGIES.—Oper-5
ational technologies transferred pursuant to subsection (b) 6
to partner governments for intelligence, defense, or law en-7
forcement purposes shall be used solely for the purposes for 8
which the technology was intended. The United States shall 9
take all necessary steps to ensure that the use of such oper-10
ational technologies is consistent with United States law, 11
including protections of freedom of expression, freedom of 12
movement, and freedom of association. 13
(d) S
TRATEGY.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 15
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 16
State, in coordination with the heads of other relevant 17
Federal agencies, shall submit to the Committee on 18
Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 19
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a 5- 20
year strategy to promote security and the rule of law 21
in the Western Hemisphere in accordance to this Sec-22
tion. 23
(2) E
LEMENTS.—The strategy required under 24
paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 25
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(A) A detailed assessment of the resources 1
required to carry out such collaborative efforts. 2
(B) Annual benchmarks to track progress 3
and obstacles in undertaking such collaborative 4
efforts. 5
(C) A public diplomacy component to en-6
gage the people of the Western Hemisphere with 7
the purpose of demonstrating that the security of 8
their countries is enhanced to a greater extent 9
through alignment with the United States and 10
democratic values rather than with authori-11
tarian countries such as the People’s Republic of 12
China, the Russian Federation, and the Islamic 13
Republic of Iran. 14
(3) B
RIEFING.—Not later than 1 year after sub-15
mission of the strategy required under paragraph (1), 16
and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall 17
provide to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 18
Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 19
House of Representatives a briefing on the implemen-20
tation of the strategy. 21
SEC. 4. PROMOTING DIGITALIZATION AND CYBERSECURITY 22
IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. 23
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 24
that the United States should support digitalization and 25
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expand cybersecurity cooperation in the Western Hemi-1
sphere to promote regional economic prosperity and secu-2
rity. 3
(b) P
ROMOTION OFDIGITALIZATION ANDCYBERSECU-4
RITY.—The Secretary of State, in coordination with the 5
heads of other relevant Federal agencies, should promote 6
digitalization and cybersecurity in the Western Hemisphere 7
through collaborative efforts with democratic partners 8
that— 9
(1) promote digital connectivity and facilitate e- 10
commerce by expanding access to information and 11
communications technology (ICT) supply chains that 12
adhere to high-quality security and reliability stand-13
ards, including— 14
(A) to open market access on a national 15
treatment, nondiscriminatory basis; and 16
(B) to strengthen the cybersecurity and 17
cyber resilience of partner countries; 18
(2) advance the provision of digital government 19
services (e-government) that, to the greatest extent 20
possible, promote transparency, lower business costs, 21
and expand citizens’ access to public services and 22
public information; and 23
(3) develop robust cybersecurity partnerships 24
to— 25
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(A) promote the inclusion of components 1
and architectures in information and commu-2
nications technology (ICT) supply chains from 3
participants in initiatives that adhere to high- 4
quality security and reliability standards; 5
(B) share best practices to mitigate cyber 6
threats to critical infrastructure from ICT archi-7
tectures by technology providers that supply 8
equipment and services covered under section 2 9
of the Secure and Trusted Communications Net-10
works Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1601); 11
(C) effectively respond to cybersecurity 12
threats, including state-sponsored threats; and 13
(D) to strengthen resilience against 14
cyberattacks and cybercrime. 15
SEC. 5. PROMOTING ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL PART-16
NERSHIPS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. 17
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 18
that the United States should enhance economic and com-19
mercial ties with democratic partners to promote prosperity 20
in the Western Hemisphere by modernizing and strength-21
ening trade capacity-building and trade facilitation initia-22
tives, encouraging market-based economic reforms that en-23
able inclusive economic growth, strengthening labor and en-24
vironmental standards, addressing economic disparities of 25
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women, and encouraging transparency and adherence to the 1
rule of law in investment dealings. 2
(b) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi-3
nation with the United States Trade Representative, the 4
Chief Executive Officer of the Development Finance Cor-5
poration, and the heads of other relevant Federal agencies, 6
should support the improvement of economic conditions in 7
the Western Hemisphere through collaborative efforts with 8
democratic partners that— 9
(1) facilitate a more open, transparent, and com-10
petitive environment for United States businesses and 11
promote robust and comprehensive trade capacity- 12
building and trade facilitation by— 13
(A) reducing trade and nontariff barriers 14
between the countries in the region, establishing 15
a mechanism for pursuing Mutual Recognition 16
Agreements and Formalized Regulatory Coopera-17
tion Agreements in priority sectors of the econ-18
omy; 19
(B) establishing a forum for discussing and 20
evaluating technical and other assistance needs 21
to help establish streamlined ‘‘single window’’ 22
processes to facilitate movement of goods and 23
common customs arrangements and procedures 24
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to lower costs of goods in transit and speed to 1
destination; 2
(C) building relationships and exchanges be-3
tween relevant regulatory bodies in the United 4
States and democratic partners in the Western 5
Hemisphere to promote best practices and trans-6
parency in rulemaking, implementation, and en-7
forcement, and provide training and assistance 8
to help improve supply chain management in the 9
Western Hemisphere; 10
(D) establishing regional fora for identi-11
fying, raising, and addressing supply chain 12
management issues, including infrastructure 13
needs and strengthening of investment rules and 14
regulatory frameworks; 15
(E) establishing a dedicated program of 16
trade missions and reverse trade missions to in-17
crease commercial contacts and ties between the 18
United States and Western Hemisphere partner 19
countries; and 20
(F) strengthening labor and environmental 21
standards in the region; 22
(2) establish frameworks or mechanisms to re-23
view and address the long-term financial sustain-24
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ability and national security implications of foreign 1
investments in strategic sectors or services; 2
(3) establish competitive and transparent infra-3
structure project selection and procurement processes 4
that promote transparency, open competition, finan-5
cial sustainability, and robust adherence to global 6
standards and norms; and 7
(4) advance robust and comprehensive energy 8
production and integration, including through a more 9
open, transparent, and competitive environment for 10
United States companies competing in the Western 11
Hemisphere, including by— 12
(A) facilitating further development of inte-13
grated regional energy markets; 14
(B) improving management of grids, in-15
cluding technical capability to ensure the 16
functionality, safe and responsible management, 17
and quality of service of electricity providers, 18
carriers, and management and distribution sys-19
tems; 20
(C) facilitating private sector-led develop-21
ment of reliable and affordable power generation 22
capacity; 23
(D) establishing a process for surveying 24
grid capacity and management focused on iden-25
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tifying electricity service efficiencies and estab-1
lishing cooperative mechanisms for providing 2
technical assistance for— 3
(i) grid management, power pricing, 4
and tariff issues; 5
(ii) establishing and maintaining ap-6
propriate regulatory best practices; and 7
(iii) proposals to establish regional 8
power grids for the purpose of promoting 9
the sale of excess supply to consumers across 10
borders; 11
(E) assessing the viability and effectiveness 12
of decentralizing power production and trans-13
mission and building micro-grid power networks 14
to improve, when feasible, access to electricity, 15
particularly in rural and underserved commu-16
nities where centralized power grid connections 17
may not be feasible in the short to medium term; 18
and 19
(F) exploring opportunities to partner with 20
the private sector and multilateral institutions, 21
such as the World Bank and the Inter-American 22
Development Bank, to promote universal access 23
to reliable and affordable electricity in the West-24
ern Hemisphere. 25
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SEC. 6. PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY AND DEMOCRATIC 1
GOVERNANCE IN THE WESTERN HEMI-2
SPHERE. 3
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 4
that the United States should support efforts to strengthen 5
the capacity and legitimacy of democratic institutions and 6
inclusive processes in the Western Hemisphere to promote 7
a more transparent, democratic, and prosperous region. 8
(b) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi-9
nation with the Administrator of the United States Agency 10
for International Development and heads of other relevant 11
Federal agencies, should support transparent, accountable, 12
and democratic governance in the Western Hemisphere 13
through collaborative efforts with democratic partners 14
that— 15
(1) strengthen the capacity of national electoral 16
institutions to ensure free, fair, and transparent elec-17
toral processes, including through pre-election assess-18
ment missions, technical assistance, and independent 19
local and international election monitoring and obser-20
vation missions; 21
(2) enhance the capabilities of democratically 22
elected national legislatures, parliamentary bodies, 23
and autonomous regulatory institutions to conduct 24
oversight; 25
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(3) strengthen the capacity of subnational gov-1
ernment institutions to govern in a transparent, ac-2
countable, and democratic manner, including through 3
training and technical assistance; 4
(4) combat corruption at local and national lev-5
els, including through trainings, cooperation agree-6
ments, initiatives aimed at dismantling corrupt net-7
works, and political support for bilateral or multilat-8
eral anticorruption mechanisms that strengthen attor-9
neys general and prosecutors’ offices; 10
(5) strengthen the capacity of civil society to 11
conduct oversight of government institutions, build 12
the capacity of independent professional journalism, 13
facilitate substantive dialogue with government and 14
the private sector to generate issue-based policies, and 15
mobilize local resources to carry out such activities; 16
(6) promote the meaningful and significant par-17
ticipation of women in democratic processes, includ-18
ing in national and subnational government and civil 19
society; and 20
(7) support the creation of procedures for the Or-21
ganization of American States (OAS) to create an an-22
nual forum for democratically elected national legisla-23
tures from OAS member States to discuss issues of 24
hemispheric importance, as expressed in section 4 of 25
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the Organization of American States Legislative En-1
gagement Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–343). 2
SEC. 7. INVESTMENT, TRADE, AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRI-3
CA AND LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIB-4
BEAN. 5
(a) S
TRATEGYREQUIRED.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The President shall establish 7
a comprehensive United States strategy for public 8
and private investment, trade, and development in 9
Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. 10
(2) F
OCUS OF STRATEGY.—The strategy required 11
by paragraph (1) shall focus on increasing exports of 12
United States goods and services to Africa and Latin 13
America and the Caribbean by 200 percent in real 14
dollar value by the date that is 10 years after the date 15
of the enactment of this Act. 16
(3) C
ONSULTATIONS.—In developing the strategy 17
required by paragraph (1), the President shall consult 18
with— 19
(A) Congress; 20
(B) each agency that is a member of the 21
Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee; 22
(C) the relevant multilateral development 23
banks, in coordination with the Secretary of the 24
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Treasury and the respective United States Exec-1
utive Directors of such banks; 2
(D) each agency that participates in the 3
Trade Policy Staff Committee established; 4
(E) the President’s Export Council; 5
(F) each of the development agencies; 6
(G) any other Federal agencies with respon-7
sibility for export promotion or financing and 8
development; and 9
(H) the private sector, including businesses, 10
nongovernmental organizations, and African and 11
Latin American and Caribbean diaspora groups. 12
(4) S
UBMISSION TO CONGRESS.— 13
(A) S
TRATEGY.—Not later than 180 days 14
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 15
President shall submit to Congress the strategy 16
required by subsection (a). 17
(B) P
ROGRESS REPORT.—Not later than 3 18
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 19
the President shall submit to Congress a report 20
on the implementation of the strategy required 21
by paragraph (1). 22
(b) S
PECIALAFRICA ANDLATINAMERICA AND THE 23
C
ARIBBEANEXPORTSTRATEGYCOORDINATORS.—The 24
President shall designate an individual to serve as Special 25
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Africa Export Strategy Coordinator and an individual to 1
serve as Special Latin America and the Caribbean Export 2
Strategy Coordinator— 3
(1) to oversee the development and implementa-4
tion of the strategy required by subsection (a); and 5
(2) to coordinate developing and implementing 6
the strategy with— 7
(A) the Trade Promotion Coordinating 8
Committee; 9
(B) the Assistant United States Trade Rep-10
resentative for African Affairs or the Assistant 11
United States Trade Representative for the West-12
ern Hemisphere, as appropriate; 13
(C) the Assistant Secretary of State for Af-14
rican Affairs or the Assistant Secretary of State 15
for Western Hemisphere Affairs, as appropriate; 16
(D) the Export-Import Bank of the United 17
States; 18
(E) the United States International Devel-19
opment Finance Corporation; and 20
(F) the development agencies. 21
(c) T
RADEMISSIONS TOAFRICA ANDLATINAMERICA 22
AND THECARIBBEAN.—It is the sense of Congress that, not 23
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 24
Act, the Secretary of Commerce and other high-level officials 25
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of the United States Government with responsibility for ex-1
port promotion, financing, and development should conduct 2
joint trade missions to Africa and to Latin America and 3
the Caribbean. 4
(d) T
RAINING.—The President shall develop a plan— 5
(1) to standardize the training received by 6
United States and Foreign Commercial Service offi-7
cers, economic officers of the Department of State, 8
and economic officers of the United States Agency for 9
International Development with respect to the pro-10
grams and procedures of the Export-Import Bank of 11
the United States, the United States International 12
Development Finance Corporation, the Small Busi-13
ness Administration, and the United States Trade 14
and Development Agency; and 15
(2) to ensure that, not later than one year after 16
the date of the enactment of this Act— 17
(A) all United States and Foreign Commer-18
cial Service officers that are stationed overseas 19
receive the training described in paragraph (1); 20
and 21
(B) in the case of a country to which no 22
United States and Foreign Commercial Service 23
officer is assigned, any economic officer of the 24
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Department of State stationed in that country 1
receives that training. 2
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) D
EVELOPMENT AGENCIES .—The term ‘‘devel-4
opment agencies’’ means the United States Depart-5
ment of State, the United States Agency for Inter-6
national Development, the Millennium Challenge Cor-7
poration, the United States International Develop-8
ment Finance Corporation, the United States Trade 9
and Development Agency, the United States Depart-10
ment of Agriculture, and relevant multilateral devel-11
opment banks. 12
(2) M
ULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS .—The 13
term ‘‘multilateral development banks’’ has the mean-14
ing given that term in section 1701(c)(4) of the Inter-15
national Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 16
262r(c)(4)) and includes the African Development 17
Foundation. 18
(3) T
RADE POLICY STAFF COMMITTEE .—The 19
term ‘‘Trade Policy Staff Committee’’ means the 20
Trade Policy Staff Committee established pursuant to 21
section 2002.2 of title 15, Code of Federal Regula-22
tions. 23
(4) T
RADE PROMOTION COORDINATING COM -24
MITTEE.—The term ‘‘Trade Promotion Coordinating 25
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Committee’’ means the Trade Promotion Coordi-1
nating Committee established under section 2312 of 2
the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 3
4727). 4
(5) U
NITED STATES AND FOREIGN COMMERCIAL 5
SERVICE.—The term ‘‘United States and Foreign 6
Commercial Service’’ means the United States and 7
Foreign Commercial Service established by section 8
2301 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 9
U.S.C. 4721). 10
SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PRIORITIZING NOMINA-11
TION AND CONFIRMATION OF QUALIFIED AM-12
BASSADORS. 13
It is the sense of Congress that it is critically impor-14
tant that both the President and the Senate play their re-15
spective roles to nominate and confirm qualified ambas-16
sadors as quickly as possible, especially for countries in the 17
Western Hemisphere. 18
SEC. 9. WESTERN HEMISPHERE DEFINED. 19
In this Act, the term ‘‘Western Hemisphere’’ does not 20
include Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela. 21
SEC. 10. REPORT ON EFFORTS TO CAPTURE AND DETAIN 22
UNITED STATES CITIZENS AS HOSTAGES. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 24
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 25
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shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 1
Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 2
of Representatives a report on efforts by the Maduro regime 3
of Venezuela to detain United States citizens and lawful 4
permanent residents. 5
(b) E
LEMENTS.—The report required by subsection (a) 6
shall include, regarding the arrest, capture, detainment, 7
and imprisonment of United States citizens and lawful per-8
manent residents— 9
(1) the names, positions, and institutional affili-10
ation of Venezuelan individuals, or those acting on 11
their behalf, who have engaged in such activities; 12
(2) a description of any role played by 13
transnational criminal organizations, and an identi-14
fication of such organizations; and 15
(3) where relevant, an assessment of whether and 16
how United States citizens and lawful permanent 17
residents have been lured to Venezuela. 18
(c) F
ORM.—The report required under subsection (a) 19
shall be submitted in unclassified form, but shall include 20
a classified annex, which shall include a list of the total 21
number of United States citizens and lawful permanent 22
residents detained or imprisoned in Venezuela as of the date 23
on which the report is submitted. 24
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51
118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 1325 A BILL
To establish a partnership with nations in the
Western Hemisphere to promote economic com-
petitiveness, democratic governance, and security,
and for other purposes.
M
AY
4, 2023
Reported with an amendment
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