Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1737 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1737
5	5	To direct the Secretary of Commerce to submit to Congress a report con-
6	6	taining an assessment of the value, cost, and feasibility of a trans-
7	7	Atlantic submarine fiber optic cable connecting the contiguous United
8	8	States, the United States Virgin Islands, Ghana, and Nigeria.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	FEBRUARY27, 2025
11	11	Ms. P
12	12	LASKETT(for herself and Mr. FULCHER) introduced the following bill;
13	13	which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To direct the Secretary of Commerce to submit to Congress
16	16	a report containing an assessment of the value, cost,
17	17	and feasibility of a trans-Atlantic submarine fiber optic
18	18	cable connecting the contiguous United States, the
19	19	United States Virgin Islands, Ghana, and Nigeria.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. ASSESSMENT OF TRANS-ATLANTIC SUBMARINE 3
23	23	FIBER OPTIC CABLE. 4
24	24	(a) R
25	25	EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 5
26	26	of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 6
27	27	with the heads of other Federal departments and agencies 7
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30	30	•HR 1737 IH
31	31	as necessary, shall submit to the Committee on Energy 1
32	32	and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the 2
33	33	Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 3
34	34	the Senate a report containing an assessment of the value, 4
35	35	cost, and feasibility of a trans-Atlantic submarine fiber 5
36	36	optic cable connecting the contiguous United States, the 6
37	37	United States Virgin Islands, Ghana, and Nigeria, to en-7
38	38	hance the national security of the United States. 8
39	39	(b) E
40	40	LEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 9
41	41	(a) shall include an assessment of— 10
42	42	(1) the digital security, national security, and 11
43	43	economic opportunities associated with a trans-At-12
44	44	lantic submarine fiber optic cable described in sub-13
45	45	section (a); 14
46	46	(2) the lifespan of submarine fiber optic cables 15
47	47	currently connecting the United States Virgin Is-16
48	48	lands to the contiguous United States; 17
49	49	(3) the current security of telecommunications 18
50	50	between the contiguous United States and the 19
51	51	United States Virgin Islands; 20
52	52	(4) the readiness of telecommunications infra-21
53	53	structure in the United States Virgin Islands to sup-22
54	54	port a trans-Atlantic submarine fiber optic cable de-23
55	55	scribed in subsection (a); 24
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58	58	•HR 1737 IH
59	59	(5) the potential for engagement with trusted 1
60	60	entities in the deployment of a trans-Atlantic sub-2
61	61	marine fiber optic cable described in subsection (a), 3
62	62	and the associated geopolitical and economic advan-4
63	63	tages; 5
64	64	(6) the potential connectivity opportunities to 6
65	65	maximize investments in the United States economy 7
66	66	through the use of a trans-Atlantic submarine fiber 8
67	67	optic cable described in subsection (a); 9
68	68	(7) the value, cost, and feasibility of estab-10
69	69	lishing a data center and high-security cloud services 11
70	70	facility, with independent power generation, in the 12
71	71	United States Virgin Islands for communications of 13
72	72	the United States Africa Command, communications 14
73	73	of the United States Special Operations Command, 15
74	74	and national security communications; 16
75	75	(8) the state of submarine fiber optic cables 17
76	76	connected to United States telecommunications in-18
77	77	frastructure; and 19
78	78	(9) any other related matters the Secretary de-20
79	79	termines are appropriate. 21
80	80	(c) N
81	81	OMANDATORYDATACOLLECTION.—The Sec-22
82	82	retary may not require any entity to provide data for pur-23
83	83	poses of preparing the report required by subsection (a). 24
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86	86	•HR 1737 IH
87	87	(d) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 1
88	88	shall be submitted in unclassified form without any des-2
89	89	ignation relating to dissemination control, but may include 3
90	90	a classified annex. 4
91	91	(e) D
92	92	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 5
93	93	(1) N
94	94	OT TRUSTED.—The term ‘‘not trusted’’ 6
95	95	means, with respect to an entity, that the entity is 7
96	96	determined by the Secretary to pose an unacceptable 8
97	97	risk to the national security of the United States, or 9
98	98	the security and safety of United States persons, 10
99	99	based solely on one or more determination described 11
100	100	under paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 2(c) of 12
101	101	the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks 13
102	102	Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1601(c)). 14
103	103	(2) S
104	104	ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15
105	105	the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the As-16
106	106	sistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications 17
107	107	and Information. 18
108	108	(3) T
109	109	RUSTED.—The term ‘‘trusted’’ means, 19
110	110	with respect to an entity, that the Secretary has not 20
111	111	determined that the entity is not trusted. 21
112	112	Æ
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