Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2192 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2192
55 To award payments to employees of Air America who provided support to
66 the United States from 1950 to 1976, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 MARCH18, 2025
99 Mr. G
1010 ROTHMAN(for himself, Mr. SMITHof Washington, Mrs. RADEWAGEN,
1111 Mr. G
1212 IMENEZ, Mr. TONKO, Mr. VANORDEN, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. JAYAPAL,
1313 Mrs. F
1414 OUSHEE, Mr. TRAN, Mr. STEIL, Mr. VALADAO, Ms. TITUS, Mr.
1515 S
1616 ORENSEN, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Mr. VANDREW,
1717 Mr. C
1818 ISCOMANI, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. LOISFRANKELof Florida, Ms.
1919 S
2020 ALAZAR, Mr. POCAN, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. KELLYof Illinois,
2121 Mr. M
2222 OULTON, Mr. KENNEDYof New York, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. CARTER
2323 of Georgia, Mr. M
2424 OOREof Alabama, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. NUNN
2525 of Iowa, Mr. H
2626 UFFMAN, Ms. CHU, Mr. TIMMONS, Ms. LEEof Nevada,
2727 Ms. H
2828 OULAHAN, Mr. MEUSER, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia,
2929 Mr. T
3030 HOMPSONof California, Mr. FEENSTRA, Ms. GARCIAof Texas, Mr.
3131 C
3232 OSTA, Mr. LARSENof Washington, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. SCOTT
3333 F
3434 RANKLINof Florida, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. WESTERMAN,
3535 Ms. T
3636 ENNEY, Ms. WASSERMANSCHULTZ, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina,
3737 Ms. N
3838 ORTON, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. HIMES, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr.
3939 P
4040 ANETTA, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mrs. TORRESof California, Ms.
4141 W
4242 ILLIAMSof Georgia, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. CASTROof Texas, Mr. GOLDEN
4343 of Maine, Mr. G
4444 OLDMANof New York, Mr. DELUZIO, Ms. PETTERSEN,
4545 Ms. S
4646 TRICKLAND, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. KEATING, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr.
4747 L
4848 YNCH, Ms. B ROWN, Mr. C ASTEN, Mr. C ARBAJAL, Mr.
4949 K
5050 RISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. FROST, Mr. TAKANO, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr.
5151 P
5252 APPAS, Mr. LANDSMAN, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. FALLON, Ms.
5353 B
5454 ARRAGA´N, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. VICENTEGONZALEZof Texas, Ms. DAVIDS
5555 of Kansas, Mr. H
5656 UDSON, and Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the following bill;
5757 which was referred to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
5858 A BILL
5959 To award payments to employees of Air America who pro-
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6262 •HR 2192 IH
6363 vided support to the United States from 1950 to 1976,
6464 and for other purposes.
6565 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
6666 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
6767 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
6868 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Air America Act of 4
6969 2025’’. 5
7070 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
7171 Congress finds the following: 7
7272 (1) Air America and its affiliated companies, in 8
7373 coordination with the Central Intelligence Agency, 9
7474 provided direct and indirect support to the United 10
7575 States Government from 1950 to 1976. 11
7676 (2) The service and sacrifice of employees of 12
7777 Air America included— 13
7878 (A) suffering a high rate of casualties in 14
7979 the course of service; 15
8080 (B) saving thousands of lives in search and 16
8181 rescue missions for downed United States air-17
8282 men and allied refugee evacuations; and 18
8383 (C) serving lengthy periods under chal-19
8484 lenging circumstances abroad. 20
8585 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 21
8686 In this Act: 22
8787 (1) A
8888 FFILIATED COMPANY .—The term ‘‘affili-23
8989 ated company’’, with respect to Air America, in-24
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9292 •HR 2192 IH
9393 cludes Air Asia Company Limited, CAT Incor-1
9494 porated, Civil Air Transport Company Limited, and 2
9595 the Pacific Division of Southern Air Transport. 3
9696 (2) A
9797 IR AMERICA.—The term ‘‘Air America’’ 4
9898 means Air America, Incorporated. 5
9999 (3) A
100100 PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -6
101101 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-7
102102 mittees’’ means— 8
103103 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 9
104104 and Governmental Affairs, the Select Com-10
105105 mittee on Intelligence, and the Committee on 11
106106 Appropriations of the Senate; and 12
107107 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Ac-13
108108 countability, the Permanent Select Committee 14
109109 on Intelligence, and the Committee on Appro-15
110110 priations of the House of Representatives. 16
111111 (4) C
112112 HILD; DEPENDENT; WIDOW; WIDOWER.— 17
113113 The terms ‘‘child’’, ‘‘dependent’’, ‘‘widow’’, and 18
114114 ‘‘widower’’ have the meanings given those terms in 19
115115 section 8341(a) of title 5, United States Code, ex-20
116116 cept that section shall be applied by substituting 21
117117 ‘‘individual who performed qualifying service’’ for 22
118118 ‘‘employee or Member’’. 23
119119 (5) C
120120 OVERED DECEDENT .—The term ‘‘covered 24
121121 decedent’’ means an individual who was killed in 25
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124124 •HR 2192 IH
125125 Southeast Asia while supporting operations of the 1
126126 Central Intelligence Agency during the period begin-2
127127 ning on January 1, 1950, and ending on December 3
128128 31, 1976, as a United States citizen employee of Air 4
129129 America or an affiliated company. 5
130130 (6) D
131131 IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 6
132132 the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. 7
133133 (7) Q
134134 UALIFYING SERVICE.—The term ‘‘quali-8
135135 fying service’’ means service that— 9
136136 (A) was performed by a United States cit-10
137137 izen as an employee of Air America or an affili-11
138138 ated company during the period beginning on 12
139139 January 1, 1950, and ending on December 31, 13
140140 1976; and 14
141141 (B) is documented in— 15
142142 (i) the corporate records of Air Amer-16
143143 ica or an affiliated company; 17
144144 (ii) records possessed by the United 18
145145 States Government; or 19
146146 (iii) the personal records of a former 20
147147 employee of Air America or an affiliated 21
148148 company that are verified by the United 22
149149 States Government. 23
150150 (8) S
151151 URVIVOR.—The term ‘‘survivor’’means— 24
152152 (A) the widow or widower of— 25
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155155 •HR 2192 IH
156156 (i) an individual who performed quali-1
157157 fying service; or 2
158158 (ii) a covered decedent; or 3
159159 (B) an individual who, at any time during 4
160160 or since the period of qualifying service, or on 5
161161 the date of death of a covered decedent, was a 6
162162 dependent or child of— 7
163163 (i) the individual who performed such 8
164164 qualifying service; or 9
165165 (ii) the covered decedent. 10
166166 SEC. 4. AWARD AUTHORIZED TO ELIGIBLE PERSONS. 11
167167 (a) I
168168 NGENERAL.—Subject to the limitation in sub-12
169169 section (d), the Director shall provide an award payment 13
170170 of $40,000 under this section— 14
171171 (1) to an individual who performed qualifying 15
172172 service for a period of greater than or equal to 5 16
173173 years or to a survivor of such individual; or 17
174174 (2) to the survivor of a covered decedent. 18
175175 (b) R
176176 EQUIREMENTS.— 19
177177 (1) I
178178 N GENERAL.—To be eligible for a payment 20
179179 under this subsection, an individual who performed 21
180180 qualifying service or survivor (as the case may be) 22
181181 must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Director 23
182182 that the individual whose qualifying service upon 24
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185185 •HR 2192 IH
186186 which the payment is based meets the criteria of 1
187187 paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a). 2
188188 (2) R
189189 ELIANCE ON RECORDS .—In carrying out 3
190190 this subsection, in addition to any evidence provided 4
191191 by such an individual or survivor, the Director may 5
192192 rely on records possessed by the United States Gov-6
193193 ernment. 7
194194 (c) A
195195 DDITIONALPAYMENT.—If an individual, or in 8
196196 the case of a survivor, the individual whose qualifying 9
197197 service upon which the payment is based, can demonstrate 10
198198 to the Director that the qualifying service of the individual 11
199199 exceeded 5 years, the Director shall pay to such individual 12
200200 or survivor an additional $8,000 for each full year in ex-13
201201 cess of 5 years (and a proportionate amount for a partial 14
202202 year). 15
203203 (d) S
204204 URVIVORS.—In the case of an award granted to 16
205205 a survivor under this section, the payment shall be made— 17
206206 (1) to the surviving widow or widower; or 18
207207 (2) if there is no surviving widow or widower, 19
208208 to the surviving dependent or child, in equal shares. 20
209209 SEC. 5. FUNDING LIMITATION. 21
210210 (a) I
211211 NGENERAL.—The total amount of awards 22
212212 granted under this Act may not exceed $60,000,000. 23
213213 (b) R
214214 EQUESTS FORADDITIONALFUNDS.—If, at the 24
215215 determination of the Director, the amount of funds re-25
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219219 quired to satisfy all valid applications for payment under 1
220220 this Act exceeds the limitation set forth in subsection (a), 2
221221 the Director shall submit to Congress a request for suffi-3
222222 cient funds to fulfill all remaining payments. 4
223223 (c) A
224224 WARDS TOEMPLOYEES OF INTERMOUNTAIN 5
225225 A
226226 VIATION.—The Director may determine, on a case-by- 6
227227 case basis, to award amounts to individuals who performed 7
228228 service consistent with the definition of qualifying service 8
229229 as employees of Intermountain Aviation. 9
230230 SEC. 6. TIME LIMITATION. 10
231231 (a) I
232232 NGENERAL.—To be eligible for an award pay-11
233233 ment under this Act, a claimant must file a claim for such 12
234234 payment with the Director not later than 2 years after 13
235235 the effective date of the regulations prescribed by the Di-14
236236 rector in accordance with section 7. 15
237237 (b) D
238238 ETERMINATION.—Not later than 90 days after 16
239239 receiving a claim for an award payment under this section, 17
240240 the Director shall determine the eligibility of the claimant 18
241241 for payment. 19
242242 (c) P
243243 AYMENT.— 20
244244 (1) I
245245 N GENERAL.—If the Director determines 21
246246 that the claimant is eligible for the award payment, 22
247247 the Director shall pay the award payment not later 23
248248 than 60 days after the date of such determination. 24
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252252 (2) LUMP-SUM PAYMENT.—The Director shall 1
253253 issue each payment as a one-time lump sum pay-2
254254 ment contingent upon the timely filing of the claim-3
255255 ant under this section. 4
256256 (3) N
257257 OTICE AND DELAYS.—The Director shall 5
258258 notify the appropriate congressional committees of 6
259259 any delays in making an award payment not later 7
260260 than 30 days after the date such payment is due. 8
261261 SEC. 7. APPLICATION PROCEDURES. 9
262262 (a) I
263263 NGENERAL.—The Director shall prescribe pro-10
264264 cedures to carry out this Act, which shall include processes 11
265265 under which— 12
266266 (1) claimants may submit claims for payment 13
267267 under this Act; 14
268268 (2) the Director will award the amounts under 15
269269 section 4; and 16
270270 (3) claimants can obtain redress and appeal de-17
271271 terminations under section 6. 18
272272 (b) O
273273 THERMATTERS.—Such procedures— 19
274274 (1) shall be— 20
275275 (A) prescribed not later than 60 days after 21
276276 the date of the enactment of this Act; and 22
277277 (B) published in the Code of Federal Reg-23
278278 ulations; and 24
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282282 (2) shall not be subject to chapter 5 of title 5, 1
283283 United States Code. 2
284284 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 3
285285 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to— 4
286286 (1) entitle any person to Federal benefits, in-5
287287 cluding retirement benefits under chapter 83 or 84 6
288288 of title 5, United States Code, and disability or 7
289289 death benefits under chapter 81 of such title; 8
290290 (2) change the legal status of the former Air 9
291291 America corporation or any affiliated company; or 10
292292 (3) create any legal rights, benefits, or entitle-11
293293 ments beyond the one-time award authorized by this 12
294294 Act. 13
295295 SEC. 9. ATTORNEYS’ AND AGENTS’ FEES. 14
296296 (a) I
297297 NGENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for more than 15
298298 25 percent of an award paid pursuant to this Act to be 16
299299 paid to, or received by, any agent or attorney for any serv-17
300300 ice rendered to a person who receives an award under sec-18
301301 tion 4, in connection with the award under this Act. 19
302302 (b) V
303303 IOLATION.—Any agent or attorney who violates 20
304304 subsection (a) shall be fined under title 18, United States 21
305305 Code. 22
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309309 SEC. 10. NO JUDICIAL REVIEW. 1
310310 A determination by the Director pursuant to this Act 2
311311 is final and conclusive and shall not be subject to judicial 3
312312 review. 4
313313 SEC. 11. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 5
314314 Until the date that all funds available for awards 6
315315 under this Act are expended, the Director shall submit to 7
316316 the appropriate congressional committees a semiannual re-8
317317 port describing the numbers of award payments made and 9
318318 denied during the 180 days preceding the submission of 10
319319 the report, including the rationales for any denials, and 11
320320 if, at the determination of the Director, the amount of 12
321321 funds provided to carry out this Act are insufficient to 13
322322 satisfy any remaining or anticipated claims. 14
323323 Æ
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