I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1238
To authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque
and reprisal with respect to acts of aggression against the United States
by a member of a cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization,
or any conspirator associated with a cartel, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY12, 2025
Mr. B
URCHETT(for himself and Mr. MESSMER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To authorize the President of the United States to issue
letters of marque and reprisal with respect to acts of
aggression against the United States by a member of
a cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization,
or any conspirator associated with a cartel, 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 ‘‘Cartel Marque and 4
Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
The Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution 3
grants the Congress the power to grant letters of 4
marque and reprisal to punish, deter, and prevent 5
the acts of aggression and depredations and other 6
acts of war committed by cartel conspirators. 7
(2) Cartels present an unusual and extraor-8
dinary threat to national security and foreign policy 9
of the United States. 10
SEC. 3. ISSUANCE OF LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL. 11
(a) A
UTHORITY OFPRESIDENT.—The President of 12
the United States is authorized and requested to commis-13
sion, under officially issued letters of marque and reprisal, 14
so many of privately armed and equipped persons and en-15
tities as, in the judgment of the President, the service may 16
require, with suitable instructions to the leaders thereof, 17
to employ all means reasonably necessary to seize outside 18
the geographic boundaries of the United States and its 19
territories the person and property of any individual who 20
the President determines is a member of a cartel, a mem-21
ber of a cartel-linked organization, or a conspirator associ-22
ated with a cartel or a cartel-linked organization, who is 23
responsible for an act of aggression against the United 24
States. 25
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(b) SECURITYBONDS.—No letter of marque and re-1
prisal shall be issued by the President without requiring 2
the posting of a security bond in such amount as the 3
President shall determine is sufficient to ensure that the 4
letter be executed according to the terms and conditions 5
thereof. 6
(c) D
EFINITION OFCARTEL.—In this section, the 7
term ‘‘cartel’’ means an organization that— 8
(1) is described in section 1 of the executive 9
order titled ‘‘Designating Cartels And Other Organi-10
zations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Spe-11
cially Designated Global Terrorists’’ and dated Jan-12
uary 20, 2025; or 13
(2) is a ‘‘transnational criminal organization’’ 14
under the meaning given that term in section 15
3003(5) of the Public Law 118–50 (21 U.S.C. 16
2341(5)). 17
Æ
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