| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 2619 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require a report on sanctions under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery |
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| 6 | 6 | | and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | APRIL3, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. B |
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| 10 | 10 | | AUMGARTNER (for himself, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. AMODEI |
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| 11 | 11 | | of Nevada, and Ms. S |
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| 12 | 12 | | ALAZAR) introduced the following bill; which was |
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| 13 | 13 | | referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the |
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| 14 | 14 | | Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined |
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| 15 | 15 | | by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall |
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| 16 | 16 | | within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned |
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| 17 | 17 | | A BILL |
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| 18 | 18 | | To require a report on sanctions under the Robert Levinson |
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| 19 | 19 | | Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability |
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| 20 | 20 | | Act, and for other purposes. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 22 | 22 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 24 | 24 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Paydays for Hos-4 |
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| 25 | 25 | | tage-Takers Act’’. 5 |
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| 26 | 26 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 |
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| 27 | 27 | | Congress finds the following: 7 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •HR 2619 IH |
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| 31 | 31 | | (1) The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long his-1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | tory of hostage-taking and wrongful detention of 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | United States nationals, including its illegal deten-3 |
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| 34 | 34 | | tion of 52 American diplomats from 1979 to 1981. 4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (2) The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and 5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | et seq.), named in honor of Robert Levinson, the 7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | longest-held hostage in United States history who is 8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | presumed to have been killed by the regime while in 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | Iranian custody, authorizes sanctions with respect to 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | foreign persons who are responsible for or complicit 11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | in hostage-taking or unlawful or wrongful detention 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | of United States nationals abroad. 13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | It shall be the policy of the United States to under-15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | take additional actions and impose strict penalties to deter 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | the Government of Iran and other hostile governments and 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | non-state actors from hostage-taking or wrongfully detain-18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ing United States nationals. 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | SEC. 4. REPORT AND CERTIFICATION ON RESTRICTED IRA-20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | NIAN FUNDS RELEASED TO QATAR. 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (a) I |
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| 53 | 53 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 22 |
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| 54 | 54 | | date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 23 |
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| 55 | 55 | | thereafter for 6 years, the President shall submit to the 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Fi-25 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | •HR 2619 IH |
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| 60 | 60 | | nancial Services of the House of Representatives and the 1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 2 |
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| 62 | 62 | | Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate the 3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | following: 4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (1) A report on the $6,000,000,000 in funds 5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | transferred from restricted Iranian accounts in the 6 |
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| 66 | 66 | | Republic of South Korea to restricted accounts in 7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | Qatar on or after August 9, 2023. 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (2) A certification as to whether credible evi-9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | dence or intelligence exists that any of the funds 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | transferred have been used for any purpose other 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | than humanitarian purposes. 12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (3) A certification as to whether credible evi-13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | dence or intelligence exists that the funds trans-14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ferred have enabled the Government of Iran to in-15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | crease spending on defense, intelligence, or malign 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | foreign activities. 17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (b) M |
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| 78 | 78 | | ATTERSTOBEINCLUDED.—The report re-18 |
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| 79 | 79 | | quired by subsection (a)(1) shall include the following: 19 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (1) An itemized list of all transactions involving 20 |
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| 81 | 81 | | the use of funds transferred, including the value of 21 |
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| 82 | 82 | | such transactions, the parties to such transactions, 22 |
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| 83 | 83 | | the financial institutions involved, the goods pur-23 |
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| 84 | 84 | | chased in each transaction, the destinations and end 24 |
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| 85 | 85 | | user of such goods, the date on which the United 25 |
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| 89 | 89 | | States was notified of such transaction, and the date 1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | the transaction occurred. 2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | (2) The quantity of funds described in sub-3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | section (a)(1) in restricted accounts in Qatar at the 4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | beginning and end of each reporting period. 5 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (3) A thorough description of the process the 6 |
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| 95 | 95 | | United States Government utilized during the re-7 |
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| 96 | 96 | | porting period to review transactions involving the 8 |
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| 97 | 97 | | use of funds transferred in order to verify that such 9 |
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| 98 | 98 | | transactions were humanitarian in nature. 10 |
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| 99 | 99 | | SEC. 5. REVIEW AND DETERMINATION AND REPORTS ON 11 |
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| 100 | 100 | | SANCTIONS UNDER THE ROBERT LEVINSON 12 |
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| 101 | 101 | | HOSTAGE RECOVERY AND HOSTAGE-TAKING 13 |
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| 102 | 102 | | ACCOUNTABILITY ACT. 14 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (a) R |
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| 104 | 104 | | EVIEW ANDDETERMINATION.—Not later than 15 |
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| 105 | 105 | | 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 16 |
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| 106 | 106 | | on an annual basis thereafter for 6 years, the President 17 |
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| 107 | 107 | | shall— 18 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (1) review all cases of the hostage-taking of a 19 |
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| 109 | 109 | | United States national in Iran or at the direction of 20 |
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| 110 | 110 | | the Government of Iran and all cases of the unlawful 21 |
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| 111 | 111 | | or wrongful detention of a United States national in 22 |
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| 112 | 112 | | Iran or at the direction of the Government of Iran 23 |
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| 113 | 113 | | that have occurred during the preceding 10-year pe-24 |
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| 114 | 114 | | riod; and 25 |
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| 118 | 118 | | (2) make a determination as to whether any 1 |
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| 119 | 119 | | foreign person, based on credible evidence— 2 |
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| 120 | 120 | | (A) is responsible for or complicit in, or re-3 |
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| 121 | 121 | | sponsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise 4 |
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| 122 | 122 | | directing, the hostage-taking of the United 5 |
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| 123 | 123 | | States national or the unlawful or wrongful de-6 |
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| 124 | 124 | | tention of the United States national; or 7 |
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| 125 | 125 | | (B) knowingly provides financial, material, 8 |
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| 126 | 126 | | or technological support for, or goods or serv-9 |
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| 127 | 127 | | ices in support of, an activity described in sub-10 |
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| 128 | 128 | | paragraph (A). 11 |
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| 129 | 129 | | (b) R |
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| 130 | 130 | | EPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 12 |
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| 131 | 131 | | date of the enactment of this Act, and on an annual basis 13 |
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| 132 | 132 | | thereafter for 6 years, the President shall submit to the 14 |
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| 133 | 133 | | appropriate congressional committees a report that— 15 |
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| 134 | 134 | | (1) identifies all foreign persons with respect to 16 |
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| 135 | 135 | | which the President has made a determination under 17 |
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| 136 | 136 | | subsection (a)(2); and 18 |
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| 137 | 137 | | (2) with respect to each such foreign person— 19 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (A) states whether sanctions have been im-20 |
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| 139 | 139 | | posed under section 306 of the Robert Levinson 21 |
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| 140 | 140 | | Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Ac-22 |
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| 141 | 141 | | countability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741d) or will be 23 |
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| 142 | 142 | | imposed within 30 days of the date of the sub-24 |
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| 143 | 143 | | mission of the report; and 25 |
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| 147 | 147 | | (B) for whom sanctions have not been im-1 |
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| 148 | 148 | | posed or will not be imposed under section 306 2 |
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| 149 | 149 | | of such Act, provides a description of the spe-3 |
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| 150 | 150 | | cific authority under which otherwise applicable 4 |
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| 151 | 151 | | sanctions are being waived, have otherwise been 5 |
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| 152 | 152 | | determined not to apply, or are not being im-6 |
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| 153 | 153 | | posed and a complete justification of the deci-7 |
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| 154 | 154 | | sion to waive or otherwise not apply the sanc-8 |
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| 155 | 155 | | tions authorized by such sanctions programs 9 |
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| 156 | 156 | | and authorities. 10 |
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| 157 | 157 | | SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT TO LIMIT TRAVEL OF IRANIAN DIP-11 |
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| 158 | 158 | | LOMATS AT THE UNITED NATIONS. 12 |
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| 159 | 159 | | (a) F |
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| 160 | 160 | | INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 13 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (1) United States visa restrictions on sanc-14 |
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| 162 | 162 | | tioned individuals often contain exceptions for activi-15 |
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| 163 | 163 | | ties in order to permit the United States to comply 16 |
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| 164 | 164 | | with the Agreement regarding the headquarters of 17 |
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| 165 | 165 | | the United Nations signed at Lake Success June 26, 18 |
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| 166 | 166 | | 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, 19 |
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| 167 | 167 | | between the United Nations and the United States. 20 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (2) Section 6 of Public Law 80–357 (commonly 21 |
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| 169 | 169 | | known as the ‘‘United Nations Headquarters Agree-22 |
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| 170 | 170 | | ment Act’’) provides ‘‘Nothing in the agreement 23 |
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| 171 | 171 | | shall be construed as in any way diminishing, 24 |
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| 175 | 175 | | abridging, or weakening the right of the United 1 |
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| 176 | 176 | | States to safeguard its own security.’’. 2 |
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| 177 | 177 | | (3) Congress has directed the President to use 3 |
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| 178 | 178 | | the President’s authority, including the authorities 4 |
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| 179 | 179 | | contained in section 6 of Public Law 80–357, to 5 |
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| 180 | 180 | | deny any individual’s admission to the United States 6 |
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| 181 | 181 | | as a representative to the United Nations if the 7 |
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| 182 | 182 | | President determines that such individual has been 8 |
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| 183 | 183 | | found to have been engaged in espionage activities 9 |
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| 184 | 184 | | or a terrorist activity directed against the United 10 |
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| 185 | 185 | | States or its allies and may pose a threat to United 11 |
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| 186 | 186 | | States national security interests. 12 |
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| 187 | 187 | | (b) S |
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| 188 | 188 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-13 |
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| 189 | 189 | | gress that Iran’s longstanding hostage-taking and wrong-14 |
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| 190 | 190 | | ful detention of United States nationals, assassination 15 |
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| 191 | 191 | | plots against United States nationals outside and within 16 |
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| 192 | 192 | | the United States, and intelligence activities are a security 17 |
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| 193 | 193 | | or terrorist threat to the United States and United States 18 |
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| 194 | 194 | | interests and shall be a primary consideration in limiting 19 |
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| 195 | 195 | | travel of Iranian diplomats seeking admission to the 20 |
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| 196 | 196 | | United States for United Nations activities and their fam-21 |
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| 197 | 197 | | ily members. 22 |
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| 198 | 198 | | (c) D |
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| 199 | 199 | | ENIAL OFVISAS.—Section 407(a)(1) of the For-23 |
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| 200 | 200 | | eign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 24 |
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| 201 | 201 | | 1991 (8 U.S.C. 1102 note) is amended— 25 |
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| 205 | 205 | | (1) by striking ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1)(A)’’; 1 |
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| 206 | 206 | | (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end and inserting 2 |
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| 207 | 207 | | ‘‘or’’; and 3 |
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| 208 | 208 | | (3) by adding further at the end the following: 4 |
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| 209 | 209 | | ‘‘(B) has been sanctioned pursuant to Executive 5 |
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| 210 | 210 | | Order 13224 (66 Fed. Reg. 49079; relating to block-6 |
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| 211 | 211 | | ing property and prohibiting transactions with per-7 |
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| 212 | 212 | | sons who commit, threaten to commit, or support 8 |
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| 213 | 213 | | terrorism) or Executive Order 13382 (70 Fed. Reg. 9 |
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| 214 | 214 | | 38567; relating to blocking property of weapons of 10 |
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| 215 | 215 | | mass destruction proliferators and their supporters) 11 |
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| 216 | 216 | | as of the date of the enactment of the No Paydays 12 |
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| 217 | 217 | | for Hostage-Takers Act; and’’. 13 |
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| 218 | 218 | | (d) R |
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| 219 | 219 | | EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 14 |
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| 220 | 220 | | of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 15 |
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| 221 | 221 | | 3 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate con-16 |
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| 222 | 222 | | gressional committees a report on whether the President 17 |
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| 223 | 223 | | has taken action to restrict the travel of Iranian diplomats 18 |
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| 224 | 224 | | seeking admission to the United States for United Nations 19 |
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| 225 | 225 | | activities and their family members and identifying each 20 |
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| 226 | 226 | | such instance in which visas were denied or travel was re-21 |
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| 227 | 227 | | stricted. 22 |
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| 228 | 228 | | SEC. 7. REPORT ON BLOCKED IRANIAN ASSETS. 23 |
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| 229 | 229 | | Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-24 |
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| 230 | 230 | | ment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 3 years, the 25 |
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| 234 | 234 | | President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 1 |
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| 235 | 235 | | committees a report that includes the following: 2 |
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| 236 | 236 | | (1) An itemized list of any identifiable assets 3 |
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| 237 | 237 | | with a valuation of more than $100,000 belonging to 4 |
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| 238 | 238 | | Iranian individuals and entities that are or have 5 |
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| 239 | 239 | | been blocked or otherwise frozen pursuant to any 6 |
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| 240 | 240 | | sanctions program under any jurisdiction globally, in 7 |
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| 241 | 241 | | the prior 2 years. 8 |
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| 242 | 242 | | (2) Any changes to the status of such assets, 9 |
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| 243 | 243 | | including unblocking, unfreezing, or transferring 10 |
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| 244 | 244 | | such assets, in the prior 2 years. 11 |
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| 245 | 245 | | (3) With respect to any changes identified in 12 |
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| 246 | 246 | | paragraph (2), whether the United States Govern-13 |
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| 247 | 247 | | ment took any action, including waiving of sanc-14 |
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| 248 | 248 | | tions, that related to such unblocking or unfreezing, 15 |
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| 249 | 249 | | and a justification for any such United States ac-16 |
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| 250 | 250 | | tions. 17 |
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| 251 | 251 | | SEC. 8. REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO FREEZE 18 |
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| 252 | 252 | | AND SEIZE IRANIAN ASSETS. 19 |
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| 253 | 253 | | (a) S |
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| 254 | 254 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-20 |
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| 255 | 255 | | gress that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the 21 |
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| 256 | 256 | | Treasury, and the Attorney General should, to the extent 22 |
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| 257 | 257 | | practicable— 23 |
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| 258 | 258 | | (1) carry out a coordinated international effort 24 |
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| 259 | 259 | | to find, restrain, freeze, and where appropriate and 25 |
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| 263 | 263 | | legally authorized, seize, confiscate or forfeit the as-1 |
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| 264 | 264 | | sets of those individuals and entities that have been 2 |
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| 265 | 265 | | sanctioned in connection with Iran’s malign activi-3 |
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| 266 | 266 | | ties, including hostage-taking, wrongful detention, 4 |
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| 267 | 267 | | and human rights violations; and 5 |
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| 268 | 268 | | (2) work with foreign governments— 6 |
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| 269 | 269 | | (A) to share intelligence of financial inves-7 |
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| 270 | 270 | | tigations, as appropriate; 8 |
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| 271 | 271 | | (B) to oversee the assets identified pursu-9 |
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| 272 | 272 | | ant to paragraph (1); and 10 |
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| 273 | 273 | | (C) to provide technical assistance to help 11 |
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| 274 | 274 | | governments establish the necessary legal 12 |
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| 275 | 275 | | framework to carry out asset forfeitures. 13 |
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| 276 | 276 | | (b) R |
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| 277 | 277 | | EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 14 |
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| 278 | 278 | | of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 15 |
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| 279 | 279 | | 3 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate con-16 |
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| 280 | 280 | | gressional committees a report on actions described in 17 |
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| 281 | 281 | | subsection (a). 18 |
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| 282 | 282 | | SEC. 9. DETERMINATION AND REPORT ON INVALIDATING 19 |
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| 283 | 283 | | UNITED STATES PASSPORTS FOR TRAVEL TO 20 |
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| 284 | 284 | | IRAN. 21 |
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| 285 | 285 | | (a) F |
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| 286 | 286 | | INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 22 |
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| 287 | 287 | | (1) The Secretary of State maintains authority 23 |
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| 288 | 288 | | to restrict the use of United States passports for 24 |
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| 289 | 289 | | travel to or use in a country or area which the Sec-25 |
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| 293 | 293 | | retary has determined is a country or area in which 1 |
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| 294 | 294 | | there is imminent danger to the public health or 2 |
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| 295 | 295 | | physical safety of United States travelers, in accord-3 |
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| 296 | 296 | | ance with section 51.63 of title 22, Code of Federal 4 |
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| 297 | 297 | | Regulations. 5 |
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| 298 | 298 | | (2) In 2017, the Secretary of State declared 6 |
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| 299 | 299 | | United States passports invalid for travel to, in, or 7 |
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| 300 | 300 | | through North Korea, unless specially validated for 8 |
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| 301 | 301 | | such travel, after United States citizen Otto 9 |
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| 302 | 302 | | Warmbier suffered grievous injuries in North Ko-10 |
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| 303 | 303 | | rean custody, which led to his death. 11 |
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| 304 | 304 | | (3) The ban on use of United States passports 12 |
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| 305 | 305 | | for travel to North Korea was renewed in 2023. 13 |
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| 306 | 306 | | (b) S |
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| 307 | 307 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-14 |
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| 308 | 308 | | gress that the Secretary of State should declare United 15 |
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| 309 | 309 | | States passports invalid for travel to, in, or through Iran 16 |
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| 310 | 310 | | due to the imminent danger to the public health and phys-17 |
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| 311 | 311 | | ical safety of United States travelers stemming from the 18 |
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| 312 | 312 | | threat of wrongful detention or being taken hostage by the 19 |
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| 313 | 313 | | Iranian regime. 20 |
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| 314 | 314 | | (c) D |
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| 315 | 315 | | ETERMINATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 21 |
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| 316 | 316 | | 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act and annu-22 |
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| 317 | 317 | | ally thereafter for 3 years, the Secretary of State shall 23 |
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| 318 | 318 | | determine and report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 24 |
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| 322 | 322 | | of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 1 |
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| 323 | 323 | | Foreign Relations of the Senate— 2 |
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| 324 | 324 | | (1) whether the travel of United States persons 3 |
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| 325 | 325 | | to Iran presents an imminent danger to the public 4 |
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| 326 | 326 | | health or physical safety of United States travelers; 5 |
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| 327 | 327 | | and 6 |
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| 328 | 328 | | (2) whether the Secretary is exercising his au-7 |
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| 329 | 329 | | thority to declare United States passports invalid for 8 |
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| 330 | 330 | | travel to, in, or through Iran. 9 |
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| 331 | 331 | | SEC. 10. STRATEGY TO DETER HOSTAGE-TAKING. 10 |
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| 332 | 332 | | Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-11 |
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| 333 | 333 | | ment of this Act, the President shall develop and submit 12 |
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| 334 | 334 | | to Congress a strategy to deter and prevent wrongful de-13 |
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| 335 | 335 | | tention and hostage-taking by United States adversaries, 14 |
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| 336 | 336 | | including identifying penalties for wrongful detention and 15 |
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| 337 | 337 | | hostage-taking, identifying clear United States Govern-16 |
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| 338 | 338 | | ment policies barring the payment of ransom or trans-17 |
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| 339 | 339 | | actions that could be viewed as ransom by the United 18 |
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| 340 | 340 | | States Government, and detailing plans to coordinate with 19 |
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| 341 | 341 | | United States allies and partners on such strategy. 20 |
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| 342 | 342 | | SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS. 21 |
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| 343 | 343 | | In this Act: 22 |
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| 344 | 344 | | (1) A |
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| 345 | 345 | | PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -23 |
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| 346 | 346 | | TEES.—the term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit-24 |
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| 347 | 347 | | tees’’ means— 25 |
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| 349 | 349 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 13 |
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| 350 | 350 | | •HR 2619 IH |
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| 351 | 351 | | (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 1 |
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| 352 | 352 | | the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 2 |
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| 353 | 353 | | Representatives; and 3 |
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| 354 | 354 | | (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 4 |
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| 355 | 355 | | and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen-5 |
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| 356 | 356 | | ate. 6 |
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| 357 | 357 | | (2) F |
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| 358 | 358 | | OREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-7 |
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| 359 | 359 | | son’’— 8 |
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| 360 | 360 | | (A) means an individual or entity that is 9 |
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| 361 | 361 | | not a United States person; and 10 |
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| 362 | 362 | | (B) includes a foreign state (as such term 11 |
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| 363 | 363 | | is defined in section 1603 of title 28, United 12 |
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| 364 | 364 | | States Code). 13 |
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| 365 | 365 | | (3) U |
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| 366 | 366 | | NITED STATES NATIONAL .—The term 14 |
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| 367 | 367 | | ‘‘United States national’’ has the meaning given that 15 |
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| 368 | 368 | | term in section 307(2) of the Robert Levinson Hos-16 |
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| 369 | 369 | | tage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability 17 |
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| 370 | 370 | | Act (22 U.S.C. 1741e(2)). 18 |
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| 371 | 371 | | Æ |
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