| 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. 1263 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation between |
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| 6 | 6 | | the United States, Australia, India, and Japan and to seek to establish |
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| 7 | 7 | | a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer coopera- |
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| 8 | 8 | | tion on shared interests and values. |
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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. M |
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| 12 | 12 | | EEKS(for himself, Mrs. KIM, Mr. BERA, Mr. HUIZENGA, and Ms. |
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| 13 | 13 | | K |
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| 14 | 14 | | AMLAGER-DOVE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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| 15 | 15 | | Committee on Foreign Affairs |
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| 16 | 16 | | A BILL |
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| 17 | 17 | | To require a strategy for bolstering engagement and coopera- |
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| 18 | 18 | | tion between the United States, Australia, India, and |
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| 19 | 19 | | Japan and to seek to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamen- |
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| 20 | 20 | | tary Working Group to facilitate closer cooperation on |
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| 21 | 21 | | shared interests and values. |
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| 22 | 22 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 23 | 23 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 25 | 25 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening the 4 |
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| 26 | 26 | | Quad Act’’. 5 |
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| 27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 |
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| 28 | 28 | | It is the sense of Congress that— 7 |
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| 31 | 31 | | •HR 1263 IH |
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| 32 | 32 | | (1) as a Pacific power, the United States should 1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | continue to strengthen joint cooperation between the 2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | United States, Australia, India, and Japan (com-3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | monly referred to as the ‘‘Quadrilateral Dialogue’’ or 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | ‘‘Quad’’ and referred to as such in this Act) to en-5 |
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| 37 | 37 | | hance and implement a shared vision to meet re-6 |
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| 38 | 38 | | gional challenges and to promote a free, open, inclu-7 |
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| 39 | 39 | | sive, resilient, and healthy Indo-Pacific, that is char-8 |
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| 40 | 40 | | acterized by respect for democratic norms, rule of 9 |
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| 41 | 41 | | law, and market-driven economic growth, and is free 10 |
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| 42 | 42 | | from undue influence and coercion; 11 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (2) the United States should expand dialogue 12 |
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| 44 | 44 | | and cooperation through the Quad with a range of 13 |
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| 45 | 45 | | partners to support peace and prosperity, the rule of 14 |
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| 46 | 46 | | law, freedom of navigation and overflight, the peace-15 |
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| 47 | 47 | | ful resolution of disputes, and democratic resilience 16 |
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| 48 | 48 | | in the Indo-Pacific; 17 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (3) the pledge from the first-ever Quad leaders 18 |
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| 50 | 50 | | meeting on March 12, 2021, to address shared chal-19 |
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| 51 | 51 | | lenges, including in public health, cyberspace, critical 20 |
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| 52 | 52 | | technologies, counterterrorism, quality infrastructure 21 |
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| 53 | 53 | | investment, and humanitarian assistance and dis-22 |
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| 54 | 54 | | aster relief, as well as maritime domains, laid the 23 |
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| 55 | 55 | | foundation for critical cooperation among Quad 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | countries; 25 |
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| 59 | 59 | | •HR 1263 IH |
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| 60 | 60 | | (4) the Quad countries, working through insti-1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | tutions, including the United States International 2 |
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| 62 | 62 | | Development Finance Corporation, the Japan Inter-3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | national Cooperation Agency, and the Japan Bank 4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | for International Cooperation, and through partner-5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | ships with multilateral development banks such as 6 |
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| 66 | 66 | | the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, 7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | should finance development and infrastructure 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | projects in the Indo-Pacific region that are competi-9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | tive, transparent, and sustainable; 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (5) President Biden’s decision to elevate the 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | Quad to the leader level was critical to bolstering co-12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | operation, and all 4 countries should work to ensure 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | that the Quad Leaders’ Summit continues to take 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | place regularly; 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | (6) the ambitious framework for ongoing co-16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | operation laid out by the 4 leaders at the fifth con-17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | vening of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima 18 |
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| 78 | 78 | | on May 20, 2023, should continue; 19 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (7) Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the 20 |
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| 80 | 80 | | Quad Foreign Ministers in Washington, DC on Jan-21 |
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| 81 | 81 | | uary 21, 2025—his first day in office—underscoring 22 |
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| 82 | 82 | | the continued importance of cooperation between the 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | 4 democracies; and 24 |
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| 86 | 86 | | •HR 1263 IH |
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| 87 | 87 | | (8) the formation of a Quad Inter-Parliamen-1 |
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| 88 | 88 | | tary Working Group will— 2 |
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| 89 | 89 | | (A) sustain and deepen engagement be-3 |
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| 90 | 90 | | tween senior officials of the Quad countries on 4 |
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| 91 | 91 | | a full spectrum of issues; and 5 |
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| 92 | 92 | | (B) be modeled on the successful and long- 6 |
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| 93 | 93 | | standing bilateral inter-parliamentary groups 7 |
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| 94 | 94 | | between the United States and Mexico, Canada, 8 |
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| 95 | 95 | | and the United Kingdom, as well as other for-9 |
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| 96 | 96 | | mal and informal parliamentary exchanges. 10 |
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| 97 | 97 | | SEC. 3. STRATEGY. 11 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (a) I |
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| 99 | 99 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 12 |
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| 100 | 100 | | date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 13 |
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| 101 | 101 | | shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 14 |
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| 102 | 102 | | a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation with 15 |
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| 103 | 103 | | the Quad. 16 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (b) M |
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| 105 | 105 | | ATTERSTOBEINCLUDED.—The strategy re-17 |
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| 106 | 106 | | quired by subsection (a) shall include the following: 18 |
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| 107 | 107 | | (1) A description of how the United States in-19 |
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| 108 | 108 | | tends to demonstrate democratic leadership in the 20 |
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| 109 | 109 | | Indo-Pacific through quadrilateral engagement with 21 |
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| 110 | 110 | | Australia, India, and Japan on shared interests and 22 |
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| 111 | 111 | | common challenges. 23 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (2) A summary of— 24 |
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| 116 | 116 | | (A) current and past Quad initiatives 1 |
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| 117 | 117 | | across the whole of the United States Govern-2 |
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| 118 | 118 | | ment, including to promote broad based and in-3 |
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| 119 | 119 | | clusive economic growth and investment, and to 4 |
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| 120 | 120 | | advance technology cooperation, energy innova-5 |
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| 121 | 121 | | tion, climate mitigation and adaptation, phys-6 |
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| 122 | 122 | | ical and digital infrastructure development, edu-7 |
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| 123 | 123 | | cation, disaster management, resilient supply 8 |
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| 124 | 124 | | chains including in critical minerals, and global 9 |
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| 125 | 125 | | health security; 10 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (B) proposals agreed to by all Quad coun-11 |
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| 127 | 127 | | tries since January 2021 to deepen existing se-12 |
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| 128 | 128 | | curity cooperation, intelligence sharing, eco-13 |
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| 129 | 129 | | nomic partnerships, and multilateral coordina-14 |
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| 130 | 130 | | tion; and 15 |
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| 131 | 131 | | (C) initiatives and agreements undertaken 16 |
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| 132 | 132 | | jointly with Quad countries, in addition to other 17 |
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| 133 | 133 | | like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific, on 18 |
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| 134 | 134 | | areas of shared interest since January 2021. 19 |
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| 135 | 135 | | (3) A description of the diplomatic and bureau-20 |
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| 136 | 136 | | cratic barriers and obstacles to implementing and 21 |
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| 137 | 137 | | expanding existing streams of Quad cooperation. 22 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (4) A list of recommendations on how Congress 23 |
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| 139 | 139 | | could assist in addressing the barriers described in 24 |
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| 140 | 140 | | paragraph (3), as well as— 25 |
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| 143 | 143 | | •HR 1263 IH |
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| 144 | 144 | | (A) any new authorities needed to 1 |
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| 145 | 145 | | strengthen United States leadership in and con-2 |
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| 146 | 146 | | tribution to existing and proposed Quad initia-3 |
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| 147 | 147 | | tives and programs; and 4 |
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| 148 | 148 | | (B) additional resources needed to scale up 5 |
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| 149 | 149 | | and expand successful Quad initiatives and pro-6 |
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| 150 | 150 | | grams. 7 |
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| 151 | 151 | | (c) A |
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| 152 | 152 | | PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONALCOMMITTEESDE-8 |
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| 153 | 153 | | FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-9 |
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| 154 | 154 | | sional committees’’ means— 10 |
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| 155 | 155 | | (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 11 |
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| 156 | 156 | | House of Representatives; and 12 |
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| 157 | 157 | | (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 13 |
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| 158 | 158 | | Senate. 14 |
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| 159 | 159 | | SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF QUAD INTER-PARLIAMENTARY 15 |
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| 160 | 160 | | WORKING GROUP. 16 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (a) E |
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| 162 | 162 | | STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 17 |
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| 163 | 163 | | the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 18 |
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| 164 | 164 | | State shall seek to enter into negotiations with the Gov-19 |
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| 165 | 165 | | ernments of Australia, India, and Japan (collectively, with 20 |
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| 166 | 166 | | the United States, known as the ‘‘Quad’’) with the goal 21 |
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| 167 | 167 | | of reaching a written agreement to establish a Quad Inter- 22 |
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| 168 | 168 | | Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer coopera-23 |
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| 169 | 169 | | tion on shared interests and values. 24 |
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| 170 | 170 | | (b) U |
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| 171 | 171 | | NITEDSTATESGROUP.— 25 |
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| 175 | 175 | | (1) IN GENERAL.—At such time as the govern-1 |
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| 176 | 176 | | ments of the Quad countries enter into a written 2 |
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| 177 | 177 | | agreement described in subsection (a) to establish a 3 |
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| 178 | 178 | | Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group, there 4 |
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| 179 | 179 | | shall be established a United States Group, which 5 |
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| 180 | 180 | | shall represent the United States at the Quad Inter- 6 |
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| 181 | 181 | | Parliamentary Working Group. 7 |
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| 182 | 182 | | (2) M |
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| 183 | 183 | | EMBERSHIP.— 8 |
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| 184 | 184 | | (A) I |
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| 185 | 185 | | N GENERAL.—The United States 9 |
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| 186 | 186 | | Group shall be comprised of not more than 24 10 |
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| 187 | 187 | | Members of Congress. 11 |
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| 188 | 188 | | (B) A |
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| 189 | 189 | | PPOINTMENT.—Of the Members of 12 |
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| 190 | 190 | | Congress appointed to the United States Group 13 |
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| 191 | 191 | | under subparagraph (A)— 14 |
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| 192 | 192 | | (i) half shall be appointed by the 15 |
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| 193 | 193 | | Speaker of the House of Representatives, 16 |
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| 194 | 194 | | based on recommendations from the minor-17 |
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| 195 | 195 | | ity leader, from among Members of the 18 |
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| 196 | 196 | | House, not fewer than 4 of whom shall be 19 |
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| 197 | 197 | | members of the Committee on Foreign Af-20 |
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| 198 | 198 | | fairs; and 21 |
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| 199 | 199 | | (ii) half shall be appointed by the 22 |
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| 200 | 200 | | President Pro Tempore of the Senate, 23 |
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| 201 | 201 | | based on recommendations of the majority 24 |
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| 202 | 202 | | leader and minority leader of the Senate, 25 |
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| 206 | 206 | | from among Members of the Senate, not 1 |
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| 207 | 207 | | fewer than 4 of whom shall be members of 2 |
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| 208 | 208 | | the Committee on Foreign Relations (un-3 |
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| 209 | 209 | | less the majority leader and minority lead-4 |
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| 210 | 210 | | er determine otherwise). 5 |
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| 211 | 211 | | (3) M |
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| 212 | 212 | | EETINGS.— 6 |
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| 213 | 213 | | (A) I |
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| 214 | 214 | | N GENERAL.—The United States 7 |
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| 215 | 215 | | Group shall seek to meet not less frequently 8 |
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| 216 | 216 | | than annually with representatives and appro-9 |
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| 217 | 217 | | priate staff of the legislatures of Australia, 10 |
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| 218 | 218 | | India, and Japan, and any other country in-11 |
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| 219 | 219 | | vited by mutual agreement of the Quad coun-12 |
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| 220 | 220 | | tries. 13 |
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| 221 | 221 | | (B) L |
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| 222 | 222 | | IMITATION.—A meeting described in 14 |
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| 223 | 223 | | subparagraph (A) may be held— 15 |
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| 224 | 224 | | (i) in the United States; 16 |
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| 225 | 225 | | (ii) in another Quad country during 17 |
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| 226 | 226 | | periods when Congress is not in session; or 18 |
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| 227 | 227 | | (iii) virtually. 19 |
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| 228 | 228 | | (4) C |
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| 229 | 229 | | HAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON .— 20 |
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| 230 | 230 | | (A) H |
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| 231 | 231 | | OUSE DELEGATION.—The Speaker of 21 |
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| 232 | 232 | | the House of Representatives shall designate 22 |
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| 233 | 233 | | the chairperson or vice chairperson of the dele-23 |
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| 234 | 234 | | gation of the United States Group from the 24 |
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| 237 | 237 | | •HR 1263 IH |
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| 238 | 238 | | House from among members of the Committee 1 |
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| 239 | 239 | | on Foreign Affairs. 2 |
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| 240 | 240 | | (B) S |
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| 241 | 241 | | ENATE DELEGATION .—The President 3 |
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| 242 | 242 | | Pro Tempore of the Senate shall designate the 4 |
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| 243 | 243 | | chairperson or vice chairperson of the delega-5 |
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| 244 | 244 | | tion of the United States Group from the Sen-6 |
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| 245 | 245 | | ate from among members of the Committee on 7 |
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| 246 | 246 | | Foreign Relations. 8 |
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| 247 | 247 | | (5) P |
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| 248 | 248 | | RIVATE SOURCES.—The United States 9 |
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| 249 | 249 | | Group may accept gifts or donations of services or 10 |
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| 250 | 250 | | property, subject to the review and approval, as ap-11 |
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| 251 | 251 | | propriate, of the Committee on Ethics of the House 12 |
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| 252 | 252 | | of Representatives and the Committee on Ethics of 13 |
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| 253 | 253 | | the Senate. 14 |
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| 254 | 254 | | (6) C |
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| 255 | 255 | | ERTIFICATION OF EXPENDITURES .—The 15 |
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| 256 | 256 | | certificate of the chairperson of the delegation from 16 |
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| 257 | 257 | | the House of Representatives or the delegation of 17 |
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| 258 | 258 | | the Senate of the United States Group shall be final 18 |
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| 259 | 259 | | and conclusive upon the accounting officers in the 19 |
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| 260 | 260 | | auditing of the accounts of the United States Group. 20 |
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| 261 | 261 | | (7) A |
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| 262 | 262 | | NNUAL REPORT .—The United States 21 |
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| 263 | 263 | | Group shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Af-22 |
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| 264 | 264 | | fairs of the House of Representatives and the Com-23 |
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| 265 | 265 | | mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report 24 |
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| 266 | 266 | | at the end of each year that outlines the group’s ac-25 |
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| 270 | 270 | | tivities that year, including a description of its ex-1 |
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| 271 | 271 | | penditures, and its recommendations for enhancing 2 |
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| 272 | 272 | | the Quad. 3 |
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| 273 | 273 | | (8) E |
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| 274 | 274 | | NGAGEMENT WITH U .S. OFFICIALS ON THE 4 |
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| 275 | 275 | | QUAD.—Senior United States officials shall provide 5 |
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| 276 | 276 | | regular updates and briefings to the United States 6 |
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| 277 | 277 | | Group, including leading up to and after major 7 |
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| 278 | 278 | | Quadrilateral dialogues, to ensure close coordination 8 |
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| 279 | 279 | | with Congress. 9 |
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| 280 | 280 | | Æ |
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