I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 328
To immediately halt investment by United States persons in the energy
sector of Venezuela until the legitimate results of the July 28, 2024,
election are respected.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Ms. W
ASSERMANSCHULTZ(for herself and Ms. SALAZAR) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To immediately halt investment by United States persons
in the energy sector of Venezuela until the legitimate
results of the July 28, 2024, election are respected.
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 ‘‘Revoke Exemptions 4
for Venezuelan Oil to Curb Autocratic Repression Act of 5
2025’’ or the ‘‘REVOCAR Act of 2025’’. 6
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7
Congress makes the following findings: 8
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(1) On July 28, 2024, more than 10,000,000 1
citizens of Venezuela voted in a presidential election 2
in which meticulously documented and publicized 3
data from credible election monitors clearly and con-4
vincingly showed that opposition candidate Edmundo 5
Gonzalez received more than two-thirds of the votes 6
against the regime of Nicolas Maduro. 7
(2) The Maduro regime has refused to respect 8
the overwhelming choice of the people of Venezuela 9
and subsequently arrested and abused thousands of 10
innocent citizens of Venezuela, including children, 11
for peaceful political participation. 12
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON INVESTMENT BY UNITED STATES 13
PERSONS IN ENERGY SECTOR OF VENEZUELA 14
UNTIL THE LEGITIMATE RESULTS OF THE 15
JULY 28, 2024, ELECTION ARE RESPECTED. 16
(a) P
ROHIBITION.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the 18
enactment of this Act, the following transactions are 19
prohibited: 20
(A) Any transaction by a United States 21
person, or an entity owned or controlled by a 22
United States person, to invest, trade, or oper-23
ate within the energy sector of Venezuela, in-24
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cluding the provision of goods, services, or fi-1
nance to— 2
(i) Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., or 3
subsidiaries, representatives, or related 4
companies of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A.; 5
or 6
(ii) the regime of Nicolas Maduro or 7
any nondemocratic successor government 8
in Venezuela. 9
(B) Any transaction that evades or avoids, 10
has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes 11
a violation of, or attempts to violate the prohi-12
bition under subparagraph (A). 13
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The prohibitions under 14
paragraph (1) shall apply— 15
(A) to the extent provided by law and reg-16
ulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may 17
be issued pursuant to this section; and 18
(B) notwithstanding any contract entered 19
into or any license or permit granted before the 20
date of the enactment of this Act. 21
(b) I
MPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 22
(1) I
MPLEMENTATION.— 23
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 24
Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 25
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•HR 328 IH
State, may take such actions, including pre-1
scribing regulations, as are necessary to imple-2
ment this section. 3
(B) IEEPA
AUTHORITIES.—The Secretary 4
of the Treasury may exercise the authorities 5
provided to the President under sections 203 6
and 205 of the International Emergency Eco-7
nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) 8
to the extent necessary to carry out this section. 9
(2) P
ENALTIES.—A person that violates, at-10
tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 11
violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 12
directive, or order issued to carry out that sub-13
section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in 14
subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-15
national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 16
U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 17
commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 18
of that section. 19
(c) R
ESPONSIBILITY OF OTHERAGENCIES.—All 20
agencies of the United States Government shall take all 21
appropriate measures within their authority to carry out 22
the provisions of this section. 23
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(d) TERMINATION OF PROHIBITION.—The prohibi-1
tions under subsection (a) shall terminate on the earlier 2
of— 3
(1) on the date on which the President submits 4
to Congress a determination that the regime of 5
Nicolas Maduro has recognized the July 28, 2024, 6
electoral victory of Edmundo Gonzalez and relin-7
quished power to the legitimately democratically 8
elected government in Venezuela; or 9
(2) December 31, 2027. 10
(e) W
AIVERAUTHORITY.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The President may waive, 12
on a case-by-case basis and for a period of not more 13
than 90 days, the prohibitions under subsection (a) 14
not less than 30 days after the President determines 15
and reports to the appropriate congressional com-16
mittees that it is vital to the national security inter-17
ests of the United States to waive such sanctions. 18
(2) R
ENEWAL OF WAIVERS .—The President 19
may, on a case-by-case basis, renew a waiver under 20
paragraph (1) for an additional period of not more 21
than 90 days if, not later than 15 days before that 22
waiver expires, the President makes the determina-23
tion and submits to the appropriate congressional 24
committees a report described in paragraph (1). 25
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(3) CONTENT OF WAIVER REPORTS .—Each re-1
port submitted under this subsection in connection 2
with a waiver of the prohibitions under subsection 3
(a), or the renewal of such a waiver, shall include— 4
(A) a specific and detailed rationale for the 5
determination that the waiver is vital to the na-6
tional security interests of the United States; 7
(B) a description of the transaction or type 8
of transaction prohibited by this Act that will 9
be permitted, including a list of prohibited for-10
eign entities that are determined to be involved 11
in the transaction or type of transaction; 12
(C) an explanation of any efforts made by 13
the United States to restrict financial flows to 14
the regime of Nicolas Maduro in order to con-15
strain his ability to repress the Venezuelan peo-16
ple; and 17
(D) an assessment of the impact of 18
waiving the prohibitions under subsection (a) 19
on— 20
(i) the probability of achieving a 21
democratic transition in Venezuela as de-22
scribed in subsection (d)(1); 23
(ii) the financial resources available to 24
the regime of Nicolas Maduro or any non-25
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democratic successor government in Ven-1
ezuela; and 2
(iii) the ability of the regime of Nico-3
las Maduro or any nondemocratic suc-4
cessor government in Venezuela to violate 5
human rights, engage in repression, or 6
threaten the interests of the United States. 7
(4) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -8
TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap-9
propriate congressional committees’’ means— 10
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 11
the House of Representatives; 12
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 13
the Senate; 14
(C) the Committee on Appropriations of 15
the House of Representatives; and 16
(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 17
the Senate. 18
(f) U
NITEDSTATESPERSONDEFINED.—In this sec-19
tion, the term ‘‘United States person’’ means— 20
(1) a United States citizen or alien lawfully ad-21
mitted for permanent residence to the United States; 22
(2) any entity organized under the laws of the 23
United States or any jurisdiction within the United 24
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States (including a foreign branch of any such enti-1
ty); and 2
(3) any person physically located in the United 3
States. 4
Æ
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