Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2609 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. 2609
5	5	To promote education and training to United States diplomatic personnel
6	6	relating to the Abraham Accords and other normalization agreements
7	7	with Israel, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	APRIL2, 2025
10	10	Mr. S
11	11	CHNEIDER(for himself and Mr. HAMADEHof Arizona) introduced the
12	12	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To promote education and training to United States diplo-
15	15	matic personnel relating to the Abraham Accords and
16	16	other normalization agreements with Israel, and for other
17	17	purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Education 4
22	22	on the Abraham Accords for Comprehensive Engagement 5
23	23	Act’’ or the ‘‘PEACE Act’’. 6
24	24	SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7
25	25	It is the sense of Congress that— 8
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28	28	•HR 2609 IH
29	29	(1) educating relevant Federal officials on the 1
30	30	provisions of the Abraham Accords, as well as the 2
31	31	provisions of prior normalization agreements with 3
32	32	Israel, is essential to advancing the United States 4
33	33	commitment to peace, cooperation, and stability in 5
34	34	the Middle East; 6
35	35	(2) the Secretary of State should ensure that 7
36	36	United States diplomats and related personnel work-8
37	37	ing in the region or on related issues receive com-9
38	38	prehensive training on the history, principles, and 10
39	39	future applications of the Abraham Accords and 11
40	40	other normalization agreements; and 12
41	41	(3) the Secretary of State should ensure that 13
42	42	United States diplomats are taught about the policy 14
43	43	codified in section 104 of the Israel Relations Nor-15
44	44	malization Acts of 2022 and future iterations of the 16
45	45	policy as amended. 17
46	46	SEC. 3. ABRAHAM ACCORDS AND NORMALIZATION EDU-18
47	47	CATION AND TRAINING. 19
48	48	(a) I
49	49	NGENERAL.—To carry out the policy described 20
50	50	in section 2, the Secretary of State may undertake the 21
51	51	following: 22
52	52	(1) Supplementing existing offerings at the 23
53	53	Foreign Service Institute and other relevant Depart-24
54	54	ment of State training facilities with courses focused 25
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57	57	•HR 2609 IH
58	58	on the Abraham Accords, peace agreements with 1
59	59	Egypt and Jordan, and other such normalization 2
60	60	agreements relating to Israel as determined by the 3
61	61	Secretary of State. Such courses shall be developed 4
62	62	to provide an understanding of these agreements’ 5
63	63	diplomatic history, implementation strategies, and 6
64	64	implications for regional peace. 7
65	65	(2) Developing virtual training modules and 8
66	66	interactive content accessible by employees and offi-9
67	67	cers of the Department of State worldwide, focused 10
68	68	on the principles, history, and diplomatic impacts of 11
69	69	these agreements. 12
70	70	(b) S
71	71	COPE OFTRAINING.—For purposes of training 13
72	72	and education activities implementing subsection (a)(2), 14
73	73	the Secretary of State shall determine the countries eligi-15
74	74	ble to provide such training in a manner that ensures 16
75	75	alignment with current diplomatic landscape and objec-17
76	76	tives. 18
77	77	SEC. 4. FELLOWSHIPS AND EXCHANGES. 19
78	78	The Director General of the Foreign Service is au-20
79	79	thorized to award fellowships or grants to eligible Foreign 21
80	80	Service officers participating in programs, projects, or ac-22
81	81	tivities engaging with appropriate counterparts of Abra-23
82	82	ham Accords and other normalization agreement coun-24
83	83	tries, as determined by the Secretary of State pursuant 25
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86	86	•HR 2609 IH
87	87	to section 3(b), or engaging with regional organizations 1
88	88	in the Middle East, including— 2
89	89	(1) short-term and long-term fellowships with 3
90	90	educational institutions, nongovernmental organiza-4
91	91	tions, or diplomatic organizations involved in the ne-5
92	92	gotiation and implementation of the Abraham Ac-6
93	93	cords and other agreements; and 7
94	94	(2) opportunities to collaborate with regional 8
95	95	governmental and non-governmental institutions that 9
96	96	are part of the Abraham Accords or have normalized 10
97	97	relations with Israel. 11
98	98	SEC. 5. ABRAHAM ACCORDS AND NORMALIZATION ADVI-12
99	99	SORY BOARD. 13
100	100	(a) E
101	101	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 14
102	102	the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 15
103	103	State shall establish a nonpartisan Abraham Accords and 16
104	104	Normalization Advisory Board consisting of 4 individuals 17
105	105	with expertise in diplomacy, Middle Eastern studies, inter-18
106	106	faith dialogue, and peace-building. 19
107	107	(b) M
108	108	EMBERSHIP.—The members of the Abraham 20
109	109	Accords and Normalization Advisory Board shall be ap-21
110	110	pointed as follows: 22
111	111	(1) One member each by the Chairperson and 23
112	112	Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Af-24
113	113	fairs of the House of Representatives. 25
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116	116	•HR 2609 IH
117	117	(2) One member each by the Chairperson and 1
118	118	Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Rela-2
119	119	tions of the Senate. 3
120	120	(c) D
121	121	UTIES.—The Board shall be responsible for pro-4
122	122	viding on a unanimous basis independent advice and rec-5
123	123	ommendations on curriculum development, resource man-6
124	124	agement, and strategic planning for education and train-7
125	125	ing curricula within the Foreign Service Institute and the 8
126	126	Department of State relating to the Abraham Accords and 9
127	127	other normalization agreements. 10
128	128	SEC. 6. STRATEGY AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 11
129	129	(a) I
130	130	NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 12
131	131	enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall develop 13
132	132	and submit to the appropriate congressional committees 14
133	133	a strategy for the Department of State to implement com-15
134	134	prehensive training and education programs focused on 16
135	135	the Abraham Accords and other normalization agreements 17
136	136	with Israel. 18
137	137	(b) E
138	138	LEMENTS.—The strategy shall include: 19
139	139	(1) A plan for integrating education on the 20
140	140	Abraham Accords and other normalization agree-21
141	141	ments into existing training frameworks for Foreign 22
142	142	Service Officers and other personnel of the Depart-23
143	143	ment of State; 24
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146	146	•HR 2609 IH
147	147	(2) A description of the unanimous rec-1
148	148	ommendations of the Abraham Accords and Normal-2
149	149	ization Advisory Board established pursuant to sec-3
150	150	tion 5 and a detailed explanation of any departure 4
151	151	from such recommendations in the course of imple-5
152	152	menting the education and training required by this 6
153	153	Act. 7
154	154	(3) An outline of training requirements and 8
155	155	goals to promote the understanding and operational 9
156	156	capacity of United States personnel working with or 10
157	157	on issues related to Abraham Accords and normal-11
158	158	ization agreements in the relevant countries; and 12
159	159	(4) An analysis of the manner and extent to 13
160	160	which the implementation of the education and 14
161	161	training required by this Act supports the strategy 15
162	162	required by section 105 of the Israel Relations Nor-16
163	163	malization Act of 2022 (division Z of the Consoli-17
164	164	dated Appropriations Act, 2022; 22 U.S.C. 8601 18
165	165	note). 19
166	166	(c) O
167	167	NGOINGREPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after 20
168	168	the submission of the report required by subsection (a), 21
169	169	and annually thereafter for 4 years, the Secretary of State 22
170	170	shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 23
171	171	a report detailing the progress, challenges, and measurable 24
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174	174	•HR 2609 IH
175	175	outcomes of the educational initiatives developed pursuant 1
176	176	to this Act. 2
177	177	(d) A
178	178	PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 3
179	179	D
180	180	EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con-4
181	181	gressional committees’’ means— 5
182	182	(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 6
183	183	Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-7
184	184	resentatives; and 8
185	185	(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 9
186	186	the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 10
187	187	Æ
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