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Us Congress House Bill HB1710

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1710 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 1710
55 To impose sanctions with respect to the system of compensation of the
66 Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority that
77 supports acts of terrorism.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 FEBRUARY27, 2025
1010 Mr. L
1111 AWLER(for himself, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Ms. TENNEY, and Mr.
1212 G
1313 OTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
1414 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Fi-
1515 nancial Services, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently deter-
1616 mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
1717 as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
1818 A BILL
1919 To impose sanctions with respect to the system of compensa-
2020 tion of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the
2121 Palestinian Authority that supports acts of terrorism.
2222 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2323 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2424 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2525 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘PLO and PA Terror 4
2626 Payments Accountability Act of 2025’’. 5
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2929 •HR 1710 IH
3030 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; STATEMENT OF POLICY. 1
3131 (a) F
3232 INDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-2
3333 ings: 3
3434 (1) The Palestine Liberation Organization and 4
3535 the Palestinian Authority provide hundreds of mil-5
3636 lions of dollars per year in payments, salaries, and 6
3737 benefits to terrorists and the families of terrorists as 7
3838 part of a system compensation that incentivizes, en-8
3939 courages, rewards, and supports acts of terrorism. 9
4040 (2) The Palestine Liberation Organization and 10
4141 the Palestinian Authority policies, laws, and regula-11
4242 tions that direct, authorize, enact, facilitate, and im-12
4343 plement a system of compensation in support of acts 13
4444 of terrorism require payments, salaries, and benefits 14
4545 to terrorists including those who are members and 15
4646 part of organizations designated as foreign terrorist 16
4747 organizations by the Secretary of State under sec-17
4848 tion 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 18
4949 U.S.C. 1189), including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, 19
5050 that receive direct support including financial and 20
5151 military assistance from Iran, the leading state 21
5252 sponsor of terrorism in the world. 22
5353 (3) In 2018, Congress passed the Taylor Force 23
5454 Act (title X of division S of Public Law 115–141; 24
5555 132 Stat. 1143) into law that calls on the Palestine 25
5656 Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Author-26
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5959 •HR 1710 IH
6060 ity to end their system of compensation that 1
6161 incentivizes, encourages, rewards, and supports acts 2
6262 of terrorism and restricts United States assistance 3
6363 ‘‘that directly benefits the Palestinian Authority’’ 4
6464 unless the Secretary of State certifies to Congress 5
6565 that the Palestine Liberation Organization and the 6
6666 Palestinian Authority have met specific conditions 7
6767 including terminating that system of compensation 8
6868 and revoking the policies, laws, and regulations that 9
6969 authorize and implement the system of compensa-10
7070 tion. 11
7171 (4) Despite the enactment of the Taylor Force 12
7272 Act, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the 13
7373 Palestinian Authority have continued their system of 14
7474 compensation that incentivizes, encourages, rewards, 15
7575 and supports acts of terrorism. 16
7676 (5) On October 7, 2023, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, 17
7777 and other Gaza-based terrorist organizations at-18
7878 tacked Israel on Shabbat and during the Jewish hol-19
7979 iday of Simchat Torah, committing the deadliest at-20
8080 tack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 21
8181 (6) On October 7, 2023, Hamas fired thou-22
8282 sands of rockets into Israel, deliberately targeting 23
8383 Israeli civilians, and thousands of terrorists invaded 24
8484 Israeli communities—massacring, raping, torturing, 25
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8787 •HR 1710 IH
8888 decapitating, burning alive, seriously injuring, and 1
8989 kidnapping Israelis and Americans, including men, 2
9090 women, children, babies, and grandparents, and in-3
9191 cluding Holocaust survivors, with children being 4
9292 murdered in front of their parents and parents being 5
9393 murdered in front of their children. 6
9494 (7) On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered more 7
9595 than 1,200 who were mostly civilians, and kidnapped 8
9696 more than 240, including Israeli and American men, 9
9797 women, children, babies, and grandparents, and took 10
9898 them to Gaza as hostages. 11
9999 (b) S
100100 TATEMENT OF POLICY.—It shall be the policy 12
101101 of the United States to hold the Palestine Liberation Or-13
102102 ganization and the Palestinian Authority accountable in-14
103103 cluding through the imposition of sanctions for providing 15
104104 payments, salaries, and benefits to terrorists and the fami-16
105105 lies of terrorists as part of a system compensation that 17
106106 incentivizes, encourages, rewards, and supports acts of 18
107107 terrorism. 19
108108 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 20
109109 In this Act: 21
110110 (1) A
111111 CT OF TERRORISM.—The term ‘‘act of ter-22
112112 rorism’’— 23
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115115 •HR 1710 IH
116116 (A) means an act of international ter-1
117117 rorism (as defined in section 2331 of title 18, 2
118118 United States Code); and 3
119119 (B) includes the meanings given the terms 4
120120 ‘‘terrorist activity’’ and ‘‘engage in terrorist ac-5
121121 tivity’’ by section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigra-6
122122 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 7
123123 1182(a)(3)(B)). 8
124124 (2) A
125125 PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -9
126126 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-10
127127 mittees’’ means— 11
128128 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 12
129129 the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 13
130130 Representatives; and 14
131131 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 15
132132 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 16
133133 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 17
134134 (3) F
135135 OREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-18
136136 son’’ means any person or entity that is not a 19
137137 United States person. 20
138138 (4) K
139139 NOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 21
140140 respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 22
141141 means that a person had actual knowledge, or 23
142142 should have known, of the conduct, the cir-24
143143 cumstance, or the result. 25
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146146 •HR 1710 IH
147147 (5) SYSTEM OF COMPENSATION .—The term 1
148148 ‘‘system of compensation’’, with respect to the Pales-2
149149 tinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Or-3
150150 ganization, means the payments described in sub-4
151151 paragraph (B) of section 1004(a)(1) of the Taylor 5
152152 Force Act (22 U.S.C. 2378c–1) and the system of 6
153153 compensation described in subparagraph (C) of that 7
154154 section. 8
155155 (6) U
156156 NITED STATES PERSON .—The term 9
157157 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 10
158158 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law-11
159159 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 12
160160 United States; 13
161161 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 14
162162 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 15
163163 United States, including a foreign branch of 16
164164 such an entity; or 17
165165 (C) a person in the United States. 18
166166 SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN FOREIGN 19
167167 PERSONS SUPPORTING TERRORISM. 20
168168 (a) I
169169 NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 21
170170 date of the enactment of this Act, and an ongoing basis 22
171171 thereafter, the President shall impose the sanctions de-23
172172 scribed in subsection (b) on— 24
173173 (1) any foreign person that— 25
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176176 •HR 1710 IH
177177 (A) has served in a position as a represent-1
178178 ative, minister, official, or employee of the Pal-2
179179 estine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian 3
180180 Authority, or any other foreign person that has 4
181181 directed, authorized, been responsible for, mate-5
182182 rially assisted with, enacted, implemented, or 6
183183 otherwise facilitated the Palestine Liberation 7
184184 Organization and the Palestinian Authority sys-8
185185 tem of compensation supporting acts of ter-9
186186 rorism; or 10
187187 (B) has provided payments, salaries, and 11
188188 benefits to terrorists and the families of terror-12
189189 ists as part of the Palestine Liberation Organi-13
190190 zation and the Palestinian Authority system of 14
191191 compensation supporting acts of terrorism; 15
192192 (2) any entity that directly or indirectly has op-16
193193 erated, ordered, controlled, directed, or otherwise fa-17
194194 cilitated the Palestine Liberation Organization and 18
195195 the Palestinian Authority system of compensation 19
196196 supporting acts of terrorism including the Commis-20
197197 sion of Prisoners and Released Prisoners, the Insti-21
198198 tute for the Care of the Families of the Martyrs and 22
199199 the Wounded, the Palestine National Fund, National 23
200200 Association of the Families of the Martyrs of Pal-24
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203203 •HR 1710 IH
204204 estine, or any successor, agency, instrumentality, or-1
205205 ganization, or affiliated entities thereof; or 2
206206 (3) any foreign person that has knowingly pro-3
207207 vided significant financial, technological, or material 4
208208 support and resources support to, or knowingly en-5
209209 gaged in a significant transaction with a foreign per-6
210210 son described in subparagraph (1) or (2). 7
211211 (b) S
212212 ANCTIONSDESCRIBED.—The sanctions that 8
213213 shall be imposed with respect to a foreign person described 9
214214 in subsection (a) are the following: 10
215215 (1) B
216216 LOCKING OF PROPERTY .—The President 11
217217 shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi-12
218218 dent under the International Emergency Economic 13
219219 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent 14
220220 necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in 15
221221 property and interests in property of the foreign per-16
222222 son if such property and interests in property are in 17
223223 the United States, come within the United States, or 18
224224 are or come within the possession or control of a 19
225225 United States person. 20
226226 (2) I
227227 NELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, OR 21
228228 PAROLE.— 22
229229 (A) V
230230 ISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 23
231231 alien described in subsection (a) is— 24
232232 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 25
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235235 •HR 1710 IH
236236 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 1
237237 documentation to enter the United States; 2
238238 and 3
239239 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 4
240240 or paroled into the United States or to re-5
241241 ceive any other benefit under the Immigra-6
242242 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 7
243243 seq.). 8
244244 (B) C
245245 URRENT VISAS REVOKED .— 9
246246 (i) I
247247 N GENERAL.—An alien described 10
248248 in subsection (a) is subject to revocation of 11
249249 any visa or other entry documentation re-12
250250 gardless of when the visa or other entry 13
251251 documentation is or was issued. 14
252252 (ii) I
253253 MMEDIATE EFFECT .—A revoca-15
254254 tion under clause (i) shall— 16
255255 (I) take effect immediately; and 17
256256 (II) automatically cancel any 18
257257 other valid visa or entry documenta-19
258258 tion that is in the alien’s possession. 20
259259 (iii) P
260260 ENALTIES.—The penalties pro-21
261261 vided for in subsections (b) and (c) of sec-22
262262 tion 206 of the International Emergency 23
263263 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) 24
264264 shall apply to a person that violates, at-25
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267267 •HR 1710 IH
268268 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or 1
269269 causes a violation of this section or any 2
270270 regulations promulgated to carry out this 3
271271 section to the same extent that such pen-4
272272 alties apply to a person that commits an 5
273273 unlawful act described in section 206(a) of 6
274274 that Act. 7
275275 (c) C
276276 ONGRESSIONALREQUESTS.—Not later than 30 8
277277 days after receiving a request from the chairman or rank-9
278278 ing member of one of the appropriate congressional com-10
279279 mittees with respect to whether a person meets the criteria 11
280280 of a person described in subsection (a), the President 12
281281 shall— 13
282282 (1) determine if the person meets such criteria; 14
283283 and 15
284284 (2) submit a classified or unclassified report to 16
285285 the chairman or ranking member, that submitted the 17
286286 request with respect to that determination that in-18
287287 cludes a statement of whether or not the President 19
288288 imposed or intends to impose sanctions with respect 20
289289 to the person. 21
290290 (d) I
291291 MPLEMENTATION; REGULATIONS.— 22
292292 (1) I
293293 N GENERAL.—The President may exercise 23
294294 all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 24
295295 of the International Emergency Economic Powers 25
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298298 •HR 1710 IH
299299 Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) for purposes of car-1
300300 rying out this section. 2
301301 (2) R
302302 EGULATIONS.—Not later than 60 days 3
303303 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 4
304304 President shall issue such regulations or other guid-5
305305 ance as may be necessary for the implementation of 6
306306 this section. 7
307307 (e) D
308308 EFINITION.—In this section: 8
309309 (1) M
310310 ATERIAL SUPPORT OR RESOURCES .—The 9
311311 term ‘‘material support or resources’’ has the mean-10
312312 ing given that term in section 2339A(b) of title 18, 11
313313 United States Code. 12
314314 SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FI-13
315315 NANCIAL INSTITUTIONS THAT FACILITATE 14
316316 TRANSACTIONS SUPPORTING TERRORISM. 15
317317 (a) I
318318 NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 16
319319 date of the enactment of this Act, and on an ongoing basis 17
320320 thereafter, the President shall impose the sanctions de-18
321321 scribed in subsection (c) with respect to each foreign fi-19
322322 nancial institution that engages in the activities described 20
323323 in subsection (b). 21
324324 (b) A
325325 CTIVITIESDESCRIBED.—A foreign financial in-22
326326 stitution engages in an activity described in this subsection 23
327327 if the institution— 24
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331331 (1) processes, participates in, facilitates, or pro-1
332332 vides a transaction that are payments, salaries, or 2
333333 benefits, or any other conduct described in section 3
334334 4(a); or 4
335335 (2) knowingly conducted or facilitated any sig-5
336336 nificant financial transaction with any foreign per-6
337337 son subject to sanctions under section 4(a). 7
338338 (c) S
339339 ANCTIONSDESCRIBED.—The President shall 8
340340 prohibit the opening, and prohibit or impose strict condi-9
341341 tions on the maintaining, in the United States of a cor-10
342342 respondent account or a payable-through account by a for-11
343343 eign financial institution described in subsection (a). 12
344344 (d) D
345345 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
346346 (1) C
347347 ORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT ; PAYABLE- 14
348348 THROUGH ACCOUNT .—The terms ‘‘correspondent ac-15
349349 count’’ and ‘‘payable-through account’’ have the 16
350350 meanings given those terms in section 5318A of title 17
351351 31, United States Code. 18
352352 (2) F
353353 OREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION .—The 19
354354 term ‘‘foreign financial institution’’ has the meaning 20
355355 of that term as determined by the Secretary of the 21
356356 Treasury pursuant to section 104(i) of the Com-22
357357 prehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Di-23
358358 vestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8513(i)). 24
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361361 •HR 1710 IH
362362 SEC. 6. TERMINATION. 1
363363 The provisions of this Act shall have no force or effect 2
364364 only if the Secretary of State certifies in writing to the 3
365365 appropriate congressional committees that the Palestine 4
366366 Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority 5
367367 system of compensation providing payments, salaries, and 6
368368 benefits to terrorists and the families of terrorists that 7
369369 incentivizes, encourages, rewards, and supports acts of 8
370370 terrorism as described in this Act, has ceased to be in ef-9
371371 fect and is no longer taking place. 10
372372 Æ
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