I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2394
To authorize sentencing enhancements for certain criminal offenses directed
by or coordinated with foreign governments.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH26, 2025
Mrs. W
AGNER(for herself, Mr. SCHNEIDER, and Mr. MORAN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To authorize sentencing enhancements for certain criminal
offenses directed by or coordinated with foreign governments.
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 ‘‘Deterring External 4
Threats and Ensuring Robust Responses to Egregious and 5
Nefarious Criminal Endeavors Act’’ or the ‘‘DETER-6
RENCE Act’’. 7
SEC. 2. KIDNAPPING. 8
Section 1201 of title 18, United States Code, is 9
amended— 10
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(1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub-1
section (i); 2
(2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(h) S
ENTENCEENHANCEMENTS FOR OFFENSESDI-5
RECTED BY ORCOORDINATEDWITHFOREIGNGOVERN-6
MENTS.— 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The sentence of a person 8
convicted of an offense under subsection (a) may be 9
increased by up to 10 years if such offense was com-10
mitted knowingly at the direction of or in coordina-11
tion with a foreign government or an agent of a for-12
eign government. 13
‘‘(2) C
ONSPIRACY.—The sentence of a person 14
convicted of conspiring to commit a violation of sub-15
section (a) as part of a conspiracy under the ele-16
ments specified in subsection (c) may be increased 17
by up to 10 years if— 18
‘‘(A) 1 or more of the persons involved in 19
such conspiracy were knowingly acting in co-20
ordination with a foreign government or an 21
agent of a foreign government; and 22
‘‘(B) the person convicted of conspiring to 23
commit a violation of subsection (a) knew that 24
1 or more of the persons involved in such con-25
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spiracy were knowingly acting in coordination 1
with a foreign government or an agent of a for-2
eign government. 3
‘‘(3) A
TTEMPT.—The sentence of a person con-4
victed of an attempt to violate subsection (a) may be 5
increased by up to 5 years if such attempt was 6
knowingly at the direction of or in coordination with 7
a foreign government or an agent of a foreign gov-8
ernment.’’; and 9
(3) in subsection (i), as so designated, by in-10
serting ‘‘D
EFINITION.—’’ before ‘‘As used in this 11
section’’. 12
SEC. 3. USE OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE FACILITIES IN 13
THE COMMISSION OF MURDER-FOR-HIRE. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1958 of title 18, United 15
States Code, is amended— 16
(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-17
section (c); 18
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(b) S
ENTENCEENHANCEMENTS FOR OFFENSESDI-21
RECTED BY ORCOORDINATEDWITHFOREIGNGOVERN-22
MENTS.—The sentence of a person convicted of an offense 23
under subsection (a)— 24
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‘‘(1) may be increased by up to 5 years, if such 1
offense was committed knowingly at the direction of 2
or in coordination with a foreign government or an 3
agent of a foreign government; and 4
‘‘(2) may be increased by up to 10 years— 5
‘‘(A) if such offense was committed know-6
ingly at the direction of or in coordination with 7
a foreign government or an agent of a foreign 8
government; and 9
‘‘(B) personal injury results.’’; and 10
(3) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, by in-11
serting ‘‘D
EFINITIONS.—’’ before ‘‘As used in this 12
section’’. 13
(b) T
ECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 14
(1) Section 2332b(g)(2) of title 18, United 15
States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘section 16
1958(b)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1958’’. 17
(2) Section 1010A(d) of the Controlled Sub-18
stances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 960a(d)) 19
is amended by striking ‘‘section 1958(b)(1)’’ and in-20
serting ‘‘section 1958’’. 21
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SEC. 4. INFLUENCING, IMPEDING, OR RETALIATING 1
AGAINST A FEDERAL OFFICIAL BY THREAT-2
ENING OR INJURING A FAMILY MEMBER. 3
Section 115(b) of title 18, United States Code, is 4
amended by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(5) The sentence of a person convicted of an offense 6
under subsection (a), if such offense was committed know-7
ingly at the direction of or in coordination with a foreign 8
government or an agent of a foreign government— 9
‘‘(A) may be increased by up to 5 years if the 10
offense committed was an assault involving physical 11
contact with the victim of that assault or the intent 12
to commit another felony; 13
‘‘(B) may be increased by up to 10 years if— 14
‘‘(i) the offense committed was an assault 15
resulting in bodily injury (including serious bod-16
ily injury (as that term is defined in section 17
1365 of this title)); 18
‘‘(ii) the offense involved any conduct that, 19
if the conduct occurred in the special maritime 20
and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 21
would violate section 2241 or 2242 of this title; 22
or 23
‘‘(iii) a dangerous weapon was used during 24
and in relation to the offense; and 25
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‘‘(C) may be increased by up to 10 years if the 1
offense committed was a murder, attempted murder, 2
or conspiracy to murder.’’. 3
SEC. 5. STALKING. 4
Section 2261A of title 18, United States Code, is 5
amended— 6
(1) by striking ‘‘Whoever—’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 7
I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection (b), 8
whoever—’’; and 9
(2) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(b) E
NHANCEDPENALTIES FOR OFFENSESIN-11
VOLVINGFOREIGNGOVERNMENTS.—The sentence of a 12
person convicted of an offense under paragraph (1) or (2) 13
of subsection (a), if such offense was committed knowingly 14
at the direction of or in coordination with a foreign gov-15
ernment or an agent of a foreign government— 16
‘‘(1) may be increased by up to 5 years if— 17
‘‘(A) serious bodily injury (including per-18
manent disfigurement or life threatening bodily 19
injury) to the victim results; 20
‘‘(B) the offender uses a dangerous weap-21
on during the offense; or 22
‘‘(C) the victim of the offense is under the 23
age of 18 years; 24
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‘‘(2) may be increased by up to 10 years if 1
death of the victim results; and 2
‘‘(3) may be increased by up to 30 months in 3
any other case.’’. 4
SEC. 6. PROTECTION OF OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES OF 5
THE UNITED STATES. 6
Section 1114 of title 18, United States Code, is 7
amended— 8
(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-9
section (c); and 10
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-11
lowing: 12
‘‘(b) S
ENTENCEENHANCEMENTS FOR OFFENSESDI-13
RECTED BY ORCOORDINATEDWITHFOREIGNGOVERN-14
MENTS.—The sentence of a person convicted of an offense 15
under subsection (a) may be increased by up to 10 years 16
if such offense was committed knowingly at the direction 17
of or in coordination with a foreign government or an 18
agent of a foreign government.’’. 19
SEC. 7. PRESIDENTIAL AND PRESIDENTIAL STAFF ASSAS-20
SINATION, KIDNAPPING, AND ASSAULT. 21
Section 1751 of title 18, United States Code, is 22
amended— 23
(1) by redesignating subsections (f) through (k) 24
as subsections (g) through (i), respectively; and 25
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(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(f)(1) The sentence of a person convicted of an of-3
fense under subsection (a), (b), or (c) may be increased 4
by up to 10 years if such offense was committed knowingly 5
at the direction of or in coordination with a foreign gov-6
ernment or an agent of a foreign government. 7
‘‘(2) The sentence of a person convicted of conspiring 8
to kill or kidnap any individual designated in subsection 9
(a) as part of a conspiracy under the elements specified 10
in subsection (d) may be increased by up to 10 years if— 11
‘‘(A) 1 or more of the persons involved in such 12
conspiracy were knowingly acting in coordination 13
with a foreign government or an agent of a foreign 14
government; and 15
‘‘(B) the person convicted of conspiring to kill 16
or kidnap an individual designated in subsection (a) 17
knew that 1 or more of the persons involved in such 18
conspiracy were knowingly acting in coordination 19
with a foreign government or an agent of a foreign 20
government. 21
‘‘(3) The sentence of a person convicted of an offense 22
under subsection (e) may be increased by up to 10 years 23
if— 24
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‘‘(A) the victim was any person designated in 1
subsection (a)(1); and 2
‘‘(B) such offense was committed knowingly at 3
the direction of or in coordination with a foreign 4
government or an agent of a foreign government. 5
‘‘(4) The sentence of a person convicted of an offense 6
under subsection (e) may be increased by up to 10 years 7
if— 8
‘‘(A) the victim was any person designated in 9
subsection (a)(2); and 10
‘‘(B) such offense was committed knowingly at 11
the direction of or in coordination with a foreign 12
government or an agent of a foreign government. 13
‘‘(5) The sentence of a person convicted of an offense 14
under subsection (e) may be increased by up to 10 years 15
if— 16
‘‘(A)(i) the offense involved the use of a dan-17
gerous weapon; or 18
‘‘(ii) personal injury resulted; and 19
‘‘(B) such offense was committed knowingly at 20
the direction of or in coordination with a foreign 21
government or an agent of a foreign government.’’. 22
Æ
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