| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1158 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To provide enhanced authority for the President to enter into agreements |
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| 6 | 6 | | with the Government of Ukraine to lend or lease defense articles to |
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| 7 | 7 | | that Government to protect civilian populations in Ukraine from Russian |
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| 8 | 8 | | military invasion, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | FEBRUARY10, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. W |
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| 12 | 12 | | ILSONof South Carolina (for himself and Mr. COHEN) introduced the |
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| 13 | 13 | | following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To provide enhanced authority for the President to enter |
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| 16 | 16 | | into agreements with the Government of Ukraine to lend |
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| 17 | 17 | | or lease defense articles to that Government to protect |
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| 18 | 18 | | civilian populations in Ukraine from Russian military |
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| 19 | 19 | | invasion, and for other purposes. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 21 | 21 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 23 | 23 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom First Lend 4 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Lease Act’’. 5 |
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| 25 | 25 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1158.IH H1158 |
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| 26 | 26 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | •HR 1158 IH |
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| 28 | 28 | | SEC. 2. LOAN AND LEASE OF DEFENSE ARTICLES TO THE 1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | GOVERNMENTS OF UKRAINE AND EASTERN 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | FLANK COUNTRIES. 3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (a) A |
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| 32 | 32 | | UTHORITYTOLEND ORLEASEDEFENSEARTI-4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | CLES TOCERTAINGOVERNMENTS.— 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (1) I |
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| 35 | 35 | | N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, the President may 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | authorize the United States Government to lend or 8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | lease defense articles to the Government of Ukraine 9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | or to governments of Eastern European countries 10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | impacted by the Russian Federation’s invasion of 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | Ukraine to help bolster those countries’ defense ca-12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | pabilities and protect their civilian populations from 13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | potential invasion or ongoing aggression by the 14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | armed forces of the Government of the Russian Fed-15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | eration. 16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (2) E |
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| 47 | 47 | | XCLUSIONS.—For the purposes of the au-17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | thority described in paragraph (1) as that authority 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | relates to Ukraine, the following provisions of law 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | shall not apply: 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (A) Section 503(b)(3) of the Foreign As-21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2311(b)(3)). 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (B) Section 61 of the Arms Export Control 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | Act (22 U.S.C. 2796). 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | (3) C |
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| 56 | 56 | | ONDITION.—Any loan or lease of defense 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | articles to the Government of Ukraine under para-26 |
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| 60 | 60 | | •HR 1158 IH |
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| 61 | 61 | | graph (1) shall be subject to all applicable laws con-1 |
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| 62 | 62 | | cerning the return of and reimbursement and repay-2 |
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| 63 | 63 | | ment for defense articles loan or leased to foreign 3 |
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| 64 | 64 | | governments. 4 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (4) D |
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| 66 | 66 | | ELEGATION OF AUTHORITY .—The Presi-5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | dent may delegate the enhanced authority under this 6 |
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| 68 | 68 | | subsection only to an official appointed by the Presi-7 |
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| 69 | 69 | | dent by and with the advice and consent of the Sen-8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ate. 9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (b) P |
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| 72 | 72 | | ROCEDURES FORDELIVERY OFDEFENSEARTI-10 |
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| 73 | 73 | | CLES.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact-11 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ment of this Act, the President shall establish expedited 12 |
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| 75 | 75 | | procedures for the delivery of any defense article loaned 13 |
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| 76 | 76 | | or leased to the Government of Ukraine under an agree-14 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ment entered into under subsection (a) to ensure timely 15 |
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| 78 | 78 | | delivery of the article to that Government. 16 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (c) D |
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| 80 | 80 | | EFINITION OFDEFENSEARTICLE.—In this Act, 17 |
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| 81 | 81 | | the term ‘‘defense article’’ has the meaning given that 18 |
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| 82 | 82 | | term in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 19 |
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| 83 | 83 | | U.S.C. 2794). 20 |
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| 84 | 84 | | Æ |
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| 85 | 85 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1158.IH H1158 |
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| 86 | 86 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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