I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1263
To require a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation between
the United States, Australia, India, and Japan and to seek to establish
a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer coopera-
tion on shared interests and values.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY12, 2025
Mr. M
EEKS(for himself, Mrs. KIM, Mr. BERA, Mr. HUIZENGA, and Ms.
K
AMLAGER-DOVE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To require a strategy for bolstering engagement and coopera-
tion between the United States, Australia, India, and
Japan and to seek to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamen-
tary Working Group to facilitate closer cooperation on
shared interests and values.
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 ‘‘Strengthening the 4
Quad Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
It is the sense of Congress that— 7
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(1) as a Pacific power, the United States should 1
continue to strengthen joint cooperation between the 2
United States, Australia, India, and Japan (com-3
monly referred to as the ‘‘Quadrilateral Dialogue’’ or 4
‘‘Quad’’ and referred to as such in this Act) to en-5
hance and implement a shared vision to meet re-6
gional challenges and to promote a free, open, inclu-7
sive, resilient, and healthy Indo-Pacific, that is char-8
acterized by respect for democratic norms, rule of 9
law, and market-driven economic growth, and is free 10
from undue influence and coercion; 11
(2) the United States should expand dialogue 12
and cooperation through the Quad with a range of 13
partners to support peace and prosperity, the rule of 14
law, freedom of navigation and overflight, the peace-15
ful resolution of disputes, and democratic resilience 16
in the Indo-Pacific; 17
(3) the pledge from the first-ever Quad leaders 18
meeting on March 12, 2021, to address shared chal-19
lenges, including in public health, cyberspace, critical 20
technologies, counterterrorism, quality infrastructure 21
investment, and humanitarian assistance and dis-22
aster relief, as well as maritime domains, laid the 23
foundation for critical cooperation among Quad 24
countries; 25
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(4) the Quad countries, working through insti-1
tutions, including the United States International 2
Development Finance Corporation, the Japan Inter-3
national Cooperation Agency, and the Japan Bank 4
for International Cooperation, and through partner-5
ships with multilateral development banks such as 6
the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, 7
should finance development and infrastructure 8
projects in the Indo-Pacific region that are competi-9
tive, transparent, and sustainable; 10
(5) President Biden’s decision to elevate the 11
Quad to the leader level was critical to bolstering co-12
operation, and all 4 countries should work to ensure 13
that the Quad Leaders’ Summit continues to take 14
place regularly; 15
(6) the ambitious framework for ongoing co-16
operation laid out by the 4 leaders at the fifth con-17
vening of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima 18
on May 20, 2023, should continue; 19
(7) Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the 20
Quad Foreign Ministers in Washington, DC on Jan-21
uary 21, 2025—his first day in office—underscoring 22
the continued importance of cooperation between the 23
4 democracies; and 24
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(8) the formation of a Quad Inter-Parliamen-1
tary Working Group will— 2
(A) sustain and deepen engagement be-3
tween senior officials of the Quad countries on 4
a full spectrum of issues; and 5
(B) be modeled on the successful and long- 6
standing bilateral inter-parliamentary groups 7
between the United States and Mexico, Canada, 8
and the United Kingdom, as well as other for-9
mal and informal parliamentary exchanges. 10
SEC. 3. STRATEGY. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 12
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 13
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 14
a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation with 15
the Quad. 16
(b) M
ATTERSTOBEINCLUDED.—The strategy re-17
quired by subsection (a) shall include the following: 18
(1) A description of how the United States in-19
tends to demonstrate democratic leadership in the 20
Indo-Pacific through quadrilateral engagement with 21
Australia, India, and Japan on shared interests and 22
common challenges. 23
(2) A summary of— 24
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(A) current and past Quad initiatives 1
across the whole of the United States Govern-2
ment, including to promote broad based and in-3
clusive economic growth and investment, and to 4
advance technology cooperation, energy innova-5
tion, climate mitigation and adaptation, phys-6
ical and digital infrastructure development, edu-7
cation, disaster management, resilient supply 8
chains including in critical minerals, and global 9
health security; 10
(B) proposals agreed to by all Quad coun-11
tries since January 2021 to deepen existing se-12
curity cooperation, intelligence sharing, eco-13
nomic partnerships, and multilateral coordina-14
tion; and 15
(C) initiatives and agreements undertaken 16
jointly with Quad countries, in addition to other 17
like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific, on 18
areas of shared interest since January 2021. 19
(3) A description of the diplomatic and bureau-20
cratic barriers and obstacles to implementing and 21
expanding existing streams of Quad cooperation. 22
(4) A list of recommendations on how Congress 23
could assist in addressing the barriers described in 24
paragraph (3), as well as— 25
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(A) any new authorities needed to 1
strengthen United States leadership in and con-2
tribution to existing and proposed Quad initia-3
tives and programs; and 4
(B) additional resources needed to scale up 5
and expand successful Quad initiatives and pro-6
grams. 7
(c) A
PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONALCOMMITTEESDE-8
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-9
sional committees’’ means— 10
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 11
House of Representatives; and 12
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 13
Senate. 14
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF QUAD INTER-PARLIAMENTARY 15
WORKING GROUP. 16
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 17
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 18
State shall seek to enter into negotiations with the Gov-19
ernments of Australia, India, and Japan (collectively, with 20
the United States, known as the ‘‘Quad’’) with the goal 21
of reaching a written agreement to establish a Quad Inter- 22
Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer coopera-23
tion on shared interests and values. 24
(b) U
NITEDSTATESGROUP.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—At such time as the govern-1
ments of the Quad countries enter into a written 2
agreement described in subsection (a) to establish a 3
Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group, there 4
shall be established a United States Group, which 5
shall represent the United States at the Quad Inter- 6
Parliamentary Working Group. 7
(2) M
EMBERSHIP.— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The United States 9
Group shall be comprised of not more than 24 10
Members of Congress. 11
(B) A
PPOINTMENT.—Of the Members of 12
Congress appointed to the United States Group 13
under subparagraph (A)— 14
(i) half shall be appointed by the 15
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 16
based on recommendations from the minor-17
ity leader, from among Members of the 18
House, not fewer than 4 of whom shall be 19
members of the Committee on Foreign Af-20
fairs; and 21
(ii) half shall be appointed by the 22
President Pro Tempore of the Senate, 23
based on recommendations of the majority 24
leader and minority leader of the Senate, 25
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from among Members of the Senate, not 1
fewer than 4 of whom shall be members of 2
the Committee on Foreign Relations (un-3
less the majority leader and minority lead-4
er determine otherwise). 5
(3) M
EETINGS.— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The United States 7
Group shall seek to meet not less frequently 8
than annually with representatives and appro-9
priate staff of the legislatures of Australia, 10
India, and Japan, and any other country in-11
vited by mutual agreement of the Quad coun-12
tries. 13
(B) L
IMITATION.—A meeting described in 14
subparagraph (A) may be held— 15
(i) in the United States; 16
(ii) in another Quad country during 17
periods when Congress is not in session; or 18
(iii) virtually. 19
(4) C
HAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON .— 20
(A) H
OUSE DELEGATION.—The Speaker of 21
the House of Representatives shall designate 22
the chairperson or vice chairperson of the dele-23
gation of the United States Group from the 24
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House from among members of the Committee 1
on Foreign Affairs. 2
(B) S
ENATE DELEGATION .—The President 3
Pro Tempore of the Senate shall designate the 4
chairperson or vice chairperson of the delega-5
tion of the United States Group from the Sen-6
ate from among members of the Committee on 7
Foreign Relations. 8
(5) P
RIVATE SOURCES.—The United States 9
Group may accept gifts or donations of services or 10
property, subject to the review and approval, as ap-11
propriate, of the Committee on Ethics of the House 12
of Representatives and the Committee on Ethics of 13
the Senate. 14
(6) C
ERTIFICATION OF EXPENDITURES .—The 15
certificate of the chairperson of the delegation from 16
the House of Representatives or the delegation of 17
the Senate of the United States Group shall be final 18
and conclusive upon the accounting officers in the 19
auditing of the accounts of the United States Group. 20
(7) A
NNUAL REPORT .—The United States 21
Group shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Af-22
fairs of the House of Representatives and the Com-23
mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report 24
at the end of each year that outlines the group’s ac-25
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tivities that year, including a description of its ex-1
penditures, and its recommendations for enhancing 2
the Quad. 3
(8) E
NGAGEMENT WITH U .S. OFFICIALS ON THE 4
QUAD.—Senior United States officials shall provide 5
regular updates and briefings to the United States 6
Group, including leading up to and after major 7
Quadrilateral dialogues, to ensure close coordination 8
with Congress. 9
Æ
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