| 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. 1238 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque |
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| 6 | 6 | | and reprisal with respect to acts of aggression against the United States |
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| 7 | 7 | | by a member of a cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization, |
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| 8 | 8 | | or any conspirator associated with a cartel, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | FEBRUARY12, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. B |
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| 12 | 12 | | URCHETT(for himself and Mr. MESSMER) introduced the following bill; |
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| 13 | 13 | | which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To authorize the President of the United States to issue |
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| 16 | 16 | | letters of marque and reprisal with respect to acts of |
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| 17 | 17 | | aggression against the United States by a member of |
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| 18 | 18 | | a cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization, |
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| 19 | 19 | | or any conspirator associated with a cartel, and for other |
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| 20 | 20 | | purposes. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 22 | 22 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 24 | 24 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cartel Marque and 4 |
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| 25 | 25 | | Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 26 | 26 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Mar 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1238.IH H1238 |
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| 27 | 27 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •HR 1238 IH |
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| 29 | 29 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | The Congress finds the following: 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (1) Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | grants the Congress the power to grant letters of 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | marque and reprisal to punish, deter, and prevent 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | the acts of aggression and depredations and other 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | acts of war committed by cartel conspirators. 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (2) Cartels present an unusual and extraor-8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | dinary threat to national security and foreign policy 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | of the United States. 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | SEC. 3. ISSUANCE OF LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL. 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (a) A |
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| 41 | 41 | | UTHORITY OFPRESIDENT.—The President of 12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | the United States is authorized and requested to commis-13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | sion, under officially issued letters of marque and reprisal, 14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | so many of privately armed and equipped persons and en-15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | tities as, in the judgment of the President, the service may 16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | require, with suitable instructions to the leaders thereof, 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | to employ all means reasonably necessary to seize outside 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | the geographic boundaries of the United States and its 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | territories the person and property of any individual who 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | the President determines is a member of a cartel, a mem-21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | ber of a cartel-linked organization, or a conspirator associ-22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | ated with a cartel or a cartel-linked organization, who is 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | responsible for an act of aggression against the United 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | States. 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 1238 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | (b) SECURITYBONDS.—No letter of marque and re-1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | prisal shall be issued by the President without requiring 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | the posting of a security bond in such amount as the 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | President shall determine is sufficient to ensure that the 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | letter be executed according to the terms and conditions 5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | thereof. 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (c) D |
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| 65 | 65 | | EFINITION OFCARTEL.—In this section, the 7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | term ‘‘cartel’’ means an organization that— 8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (1) is described in section 1 of the executive 9 |
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| 68 | 68 | | order titled ‘‘Designating Cartels And Other Organi-10 |
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| 69 | 69 | | zations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Spe-11 |
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| 70 | 70 | | cially Designated Global Terrorists’’ and dated Jan-12 |
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| 71 | 71 | | uary 20, 2025; or 13 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (2) is a ‘‘transnational criminal organization’’ 14 |
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| 73 | 73 | | under the meaning given that term in section 15 |
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| 74 | 74 | | 3003(5) of the Public Law 118–50 (21 U.S.C. 16 |
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| 75 | 75 | | 2341(5)). 17 |
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| 76 | 76 | | Æ |
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