I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2619
To require a report on sanctions under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery
and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL3, 2025
Mr. B
AUMGARTNER (for himself, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. AMODEI
of Nevada, and Ms. S
ALAZAR) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require a report on sanctions under the Robert Levinson
Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability
Act, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘No Paydays for Hos-4
tage-Takers Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long his-1
tory of hostage-taking and wrongful detention of 2
United States nationals, including its illegal deten-3
tion of 52 American diplomats from 1979 to 1981. 4
(2) The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and 5
Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 6
et seq.), named in honor of Robert Levinson, the 7
longest-held hostage in United States history who is 8
presumed to have been killed by the regime while in 9
Iranian custody, authorizes sanctions with respect to 10
foreign persons who are responsible for or complicit 11
in hostage-taking or unlawful or wrongful detention 12
of United States nationals abroad. 13
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 14
It shall be the policy of the United States to under-15
take additional actions and impose strict penalties to deter 16
the Government of Iran and other hostile governments and 17
non-state actors from hostage-taking or wrongfully detain-18
ing United States nationals. 19
SEC. 4. REPORT AND CERTIFICATION ON RESTRICTED IRA-20
NIAN FUNDS RELEASED TO QATAR. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 22
date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 23
thereafter for 6 years, the President shall submit to the 24
Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Fi-25
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nancial Services of the House of Representatives and the 1
Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 2
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate the 3
following: 4
(1) A report on the $6,000,000,000 in funds 5
transferred from restricted Iranian accounts in the 6
Republic of South Korea to restricted accounts in 7
Qatar on or after August 9, 2023. 8
(2) A certification as to whether credible evi-9
dence or intelligence exists that any of the funds 10
transferred have been used for any purpose other 11
than humanitarian purposes. 12
(3) A certification as to whether credible evi-13
dence or intelligence exists that the funds trans-14
ferred have enabled the Government of Iran to in-15
crease spending on defense, intelligence, or malign 16
foreign activities. 17
(b) M
ATTERSTOBEINCLUDED.—The report re-18
quired by subsection (a)(1) shall include the following: 19
(1) An itemized list of all transactions involving 20
the use of funds transferred, including the value of 21
such transactions, the parties to such transactions, 22
the financial institutions involved, the goods pur-23
chased in each transaction, the destinations and end 24
user of such goods, the date on which the United 25
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States was notified of such transaction, and the date 1
the transaction occurred. 2
(2) The quantity of funds described in sub-3
section (a)(1) in restricted accounts in Qatar at the 4
beginning and end of each reporting period. 5
(3) A thorough description of the process the 6
United States Government utilized during the re-7
porting period to review transactions involving the 8
use of funds transferred in order to verify that such 9
transactions were humanitarian in nature. 10
SEC. 5. REVIEW AND DETERMINATION AND REPORTS ON 11
SANCTIONS UNDER THE ROBERT LEVINSON 12
HOSTAGE RECOVERY AND HOSTAGE-TAKING 13
ACCOUNTABILITY ACT. 14
(a) R
EVIEW ANDDETERMINATION.—Not later than 15
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 16
on an annual basis thereafter for 6 years, the President 17
shall— 18
(1) review all cases of the hostage-taking of a 19
United States national in Iran or at the direction of 20
the Government of Iran and all cases of the unlawful 21
or wrongful detention of a United States national in 22
Iran or at the direction of the Government of Iran 23
that have occurred during the preceding 10-year pe-24
riod; and 25
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(2) make a determination as to whether any 1
foreign person, based on credible evidence— 2
(A) is responsible for or complicit in, or re-3
sponsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise 4
directing, the hostage-taking of the United 5
States national or the unlawful or wrongful de-6
tention of the United States national; or 7
(B) knowingly provides financial, material, 8
or technological support for, or goods or serv-9
ices in support of, an activity described in sub-10
paragraph (A). 11
(b) R
EPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 12
date of the enactment of this Act, and on an annual basis 13
thereafter for 6 years, the President shall submit to the 14
appropriate congressional committees a report that— 15
(1) identifies all foreign persons with respect to 16
which the President has made a determination under 17
subsection (a)(2); and 18
(2) with respect to each such foreign person— 19
(A) states whether sanctions have been im-20
posed under section 306 of the Robert Levinson 21
Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Ac-22
countability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741d) or will be 23
imposed within 30 days of the date of the sub-24
mission of the report; and 25
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(B) for whom sanctions have not been im-1
posed or will not be imposed under section 306 2
of such Act, provides a description of the spe-3
cific authority under which otherwise applicable 4
sanctions are being waived, have otherwise been 5
determined not to apply, or are not being im-6
posed and a complete justification of the deci-7
sion to waive or otherwise not apply the sanc-8
tions authorized by such sanctions programs 9
and authorities. 10
SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT TO LIMIT TRAVEL OF IRANIAN DIP-11
LOMATS AT THE UNITED NATIONS. 12
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 13
(1) United States visa restrictions on sanc-14
tioned individuals often contain exceptions for activi-15
ties in order to permit the United States to comply 16
with the Agreement regarding the headquarters of 17
the United Nations signed at Lake Success June 26, 18
1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, 19
between the United Nations and the United States. 20
(2) Section 6 of Public Law 80–357 (commonly 21
known as the ‘‘United Nations Headquarters Agree-22
ment Act’’) provides ‘‘Nothing in the agreement 23
shall be construed as in any way diminishing, 24
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abridging, or weakening the right of the United 1
States to safeguard its own security.’’. 2
(3) Congress has directed the President to use 3
the President’s authority, including the authorities 4
contained in section 6 of Public Law 80–357, to 5
deny any individual’s admission to the United States 6
as a representative to the United Nations if the 7
President determines that such individual has been 8
found to have been engaged in espionage activities 9
or a terrorist activity directed against the United 10
States or its allies and may pose a threat to United 11
States national security interests. 12
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-13
gress that Iran’s longstanding hostage-taking and wrong-14
ful detention of United States nationals, assassination 15
plots against United States nationals outside and within 16
the United States, and intelligence activities are a security 17
or terrorist threat to the United States and United States 18
interests and shall be a primary consideration in limiting 19
travel of Iranian diplomats seeking admission to the 20
United States for United Nations activities and their fam-21
ily members. 22
(c) D
ENIAL OFVISAS.—Section 407(a)(1) of the For-23
eign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 24
1991 (8 U.S.C. 1102 note) is amended— 25
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(1) by striking ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1)(A)’’; 1
(2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end and inserting 2
‘‘or’’; and 3
(3) by adding further at the end the following: 4
‘‘(B) has been sanctioned pursuant to Executive 5
Order 13224 (66 Fed. Reg. 49079; relating to block-6
ing property and prohibiting transactions with per-7
sons who commit, threaten to commit, or support 8
terrorism) or Executive Order 13382 (70 Fed. Reg. 9
38567; relating to blocking property of weapons of 10
mass destruction proliferators and their supporters) 11
as of the date of the enactment of the No Paydays 12
for Hostage-Takers Act; and’’. 13
(d) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 14
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 15
3 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate con-16
gressional committees a report on whether the President 17
has taken action to restrict the travel of Iranian diplomats 18
seeking admission to the United States for United Nations 19
activities and their family members and identifying each 20
such instance in which visas were denied or travel was re-21
stricted. 22
SEC. 7. REPORT ON BLOCKED IRANIAN ASSETS. 23
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-24
ment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 3 years, the 25
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President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 1
committees a report that includes the following: 2
(1) An itemized list of any identifiable assets 3
with a valuation of more than $100,000 belonging to 4
Iranian individuals and entities that are or have 5
been blocked or otherwise frozen pursuant to any 6
sanctions program under any jurisdiction globally, in 7
the prior 2 years. 8
(2) Any changes to the status of such assets, 9
including unblocking, unfreezing, or transferring 10
such assets, in the prior 2 years. 11
(3) With respect to any changes identified in 12
paragraph (2), whether the United States Govern-13
ment took any action, including waiving of sanc-14
tions, that related to such unblocking or unfreezing, 15
and a justification for any such United States ac-16
tions. 17
SEC. 8. REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO FREEZE 18
AND SEIZE IRANIAN ASSETS. 19
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-20
gress that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the 21
Treasury, and the Attorney General should, to the extent 22
practicable— 23
(1) carry out a coordinated international effort 24
to find, restrain, freeze, and where appropriate and 25
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legally authorized, seize, confiscate or forfeit the as-1
sets of those individuals and entities that have been 2
sanctioned in connection with Iran’s malign activi-3
ties, including hostage-taking, wrongful detention, 4
and human rights violations; and 5
(2) work with foreign governments— 6
(A) to share intelligence of financial inves-7
tigations, as appropriate; 8
(B) to oversee the assets identified pursu-9
ant to paragraph (1); and 10
(C) to provide technical assistance to help 11
governments establish the necessary legal 12
framework to carry out asset forfeitures. 13
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 14
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 15
3 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate con-16
gressional committees a report on actions described in 17
subsection (a). 18
SEC. 9. DETERMINATION AND REPORT ON INVALIDATING 19
UNITED STATES PASSPORTS FOR TRAVEL TO 20
IRAN. 21
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 22
(1) The Secretary of State maintains authority 23
to restrict the use of United States passports for 24
travel to or use in a country or area which the Sec-25
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retary has determined is a country or area in which 1
there is imminent danger to the public health or 2
physical safety of United States travelers, in accord-3
ance with section 51.63 of title 22, Code of Federal 4
Regulations. 5
(2) In 2017, the Secretary of State declared 6
United States passports invalid for travel to, in, or 7
through North Korea, unless specially validated for 8
such travel, after United States citizen Otto 9
Warmbier suffered grievous injuries in North Ko-10
rean custody, which led to his death. 11
(3) The ban on use of United States passports 12
for travel to North Korea was renewed in 2023. 13
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-14
gress that the Secretary of State should declare United 15
States passports invalid for travel to, in, or through Iran 16
due to the imminent danger to the public health and phys-17
ical safety of United States travelers stemming from the 18
threat of wrongful detention or being taken hostage by the 19
Iranian regime. 20
(c) D
ETERMINATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 21
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act and annu-22
ally thereafter for 3 years, the Secretary of State shall 23
determine and report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 24
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of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 1
Foreign Relations of the Senate— 2
(1) whether the travel of United States persons 3
to Iran presents an imminent danger to the public 4
health or physical safety of United States travelers; 5
and 6
(2) whether the Secretary is exercising his au-7
thority to declare United States passports invalid for 8
travel to, in, or through Iran. 9
SEC. 10. STRATEGY TO DETER HOSTAGE-TAKING. 10
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-11
ment of this Act, the President shall develop and submit 12
to Congress a strategy to deter and prevent wrongful de-13
tention and hostage-taking by United States adversaries, 14
including identifying penalties for wrongful detention and 15
hostage-taking, identifying clear United States Govern-16
ment policies barring the payment of ransom or trans-17
actions that could be viewed as ransom by the United 18
States Government, and detailing plans to coordinate with 19
United States allies and partners on such strategy. 20
SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS. 21
In this Act: 22
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -23
TEES.—the term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit-24
tees’’ means— 25
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(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 1
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 2
Representatives; and 3
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 4
and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen-5
ate. 6
(2) F
OREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-7
son’’— 8
(A) means an individual or entity that is 9
not a United States person; and 10
(B) includes a foreign state (as such term 11
is defined in section 1603 of title 28, United 12
States Code). 13
(3) U
NITED STATES NATIONAL .—The term 14
‘‘United States national’’ has the meaning given that 15
term in section 307(2) of the Robert Levinson Hos-16
tage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability 17
Act (22 U.S.C. 1741e(2)). 18
Æ
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