| 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. 328 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To immediately halt investment by United States persons in the energy |
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| 6 | 6 | | sector of Venezuela until the legitimate results of the July 28, 2024, |
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| 7 | 7 | | election are respected. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY9, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Ms. W |
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| 11 | 11 | | ASSERMANSCHULTZ(for herself and Ms. SALAZAR) introduced the |
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| 12 | 12 | | following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To immediately halt investment by United States persons |
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| 15 | 15 | | in the energy sector of Venezuela until the legitimate |
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| 16 | 16 | | results of the July 28, 2024, election are respected. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Revoke Exemptions 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | for Venezuelan Oil to Curb Autocratic Repression Act of 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | 2025’’ or the ‘‘REVOCAR Act of 2025’’. 6 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Congress makes the following findings: 8 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (1) On July 28, 2024, more than 10,000,000 1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | citizens of Venezuela voted in a presidential election 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | in which meticulously documented and publicized 3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | data from credible election monitors clearly and con-4 |
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| 32 | 32 | | vincingly showed that opposition candidate Edmundo 5 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Gonzalez received more than two-thirds of the votes 6 |
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| 34 | 34 | | against the regime of Nicolas Maduro. 7 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (2) The Maduro regime has refused to respect 8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | the overwhelming choice of the people of Venezuela 9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | and subsequently arrested and abused thousands of 10 |
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| 38 | 38 | | innocent citizens of Venezuela, including children, 11 |
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| 39 | 39 | | for peaceful political participation. 12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON INVESTMENT BY UNITED STATES 13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | PERSONS IN ENERGY SECTOR OF VENEZUELA 14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | UNTIL THE LEGITIMATE RESULTS OF THE 15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | JULY 28, 2024, ELECTION ARE RESPECTED. 16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (a) P |
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| 45 | 45 | | ROHIBITION.— 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (1) I |
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| 47 | 47 | | N GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | enactment of this Act, the following transactions are 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | prohibited: 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (A) Any transaction by a United States 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | person, or an entity owned or controlled by a 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | United States person, to invest, trade, or oper-23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ate within the energy sector of Venezuela, in-24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | •HR 328 IH |
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| 57 | 57 | | cluding the provision of goods, services, or fi-1 |
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| 58 | 58 | | nance to— 2 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (i) Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., or 3 |
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| 60 | 60 | | subsidiaries, representatives, or related 4 |
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| 61 | 61 | | companies of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A.; 5 |
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| 62 | 62 | | or 6 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (ii) the regime of Nicolas Maduro or 7 |
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| 64 | 64 | | any nondemocratic successor government 8 |
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| 65 | 65 | | in Venezuela. 9 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (B) Any transaction that evades or avoids, 10 |
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| 67 | 67 | | has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes 11 |
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| 68 | 68 | | a violation of, or attempts to violate the prohi-12 |
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| 69 | 69 | | bition under subparagraph (A). 13 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (2) A |
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| 71 | 71 | | PPLICABILITY.—The prohibitions under 14 |
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| 72 | 72 | | paragraph (1) shall apply— 15 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (A) to the extent provided by law and reg-16 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may 17 |
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| 75 | 75 | | be issued pursuant to this section; and 18 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (B) notwithstanding any contract entered 19 |
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| 77 | 77 | | into or any license or permit granted before the 20 |
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| 78 | 78 | | date of the enactment of this Act. 21 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (b) I |
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| 80 | 80 | | MPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 22 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (1) I |
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| 82 | 82 | | MPLEMENTATION.— 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (A) I |
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| 84 | 84 | | N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 24 |
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| 85 | 85 | | Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 25 |
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| 89 | 89 | | State, may take such actions, including pre-1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | scribing regulations, as are necessary to imple-2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | ment this section. 3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | (B) IEEPA |
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| 93 | 93 | | AUTHORITIES.—The Secretary 4 |
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| 94 | 94 | | of the Treasury may exercise the authorities 5 |
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| 95 | 95 | | provided to the President under sections 203 6 |
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| 96 | 96 | | and 205 of the International Emergency Eco-7 |
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| 97 | 97 | | nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | to the extent necessary to carry out this section. 9 |
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| 99 | 99 | | (2) P |
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| 100 | 100 | | ENALTIES.—A person that violates, at-10 |
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| 101 | 101 | | tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 11 |
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| 102 | 102 | | violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 12 |
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| 103 | 103 | | directive, or order issued to carry out that sub-13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in 14 |
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| 105 | 105 | | subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-15 |
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| 106 | 106 | | national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 16 |
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| 107 | 107 | | U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 17 |
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| 108 | 108 | | commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 18 |
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| 109 | 109 | | of that section. 19 |
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| 110 | 110 | | (c) R |
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| 111 | 111 | | ESPONSIBILITY OF OTHERAGENCIES.—All 20 |
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| 112 | 112 | | agencies of the United States Government shall take all 21 |
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| 113 | 113 | | appropriate measures within their authority to carry out 22 |
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| 114 | 114 | | the provisions of this section. 23 |
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| 118 | 118 | | (d) TERMINATION OF PROHIBITION.—The prohibi-1 |
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| 119 | 119 | | tions under subsection (a) shall terminate on the earlier 2 |
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| 120 | 120 | | of— 3 |
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| 121 | 121 | | (1) on the date on which the President submits 4 |
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| 122 | 122 | | to Congress a determination that the regime of 5 |
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| 123 | 123 | | Nicolas Maduro has recognized the July 28, 2024, 6 |
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| 124 | 124 | | electoral victory of Edmundo Gonzalez and relin-7 |
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| 125 | 125 | | quished power to the legitimately democratically 8 |
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| 126 | 126 | | elected government in Venezuela; or 9 |
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| 127 | 127 | | (2) December 31, 2027. 10 |
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| 128 | 128 | | (e) W |
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| 129 | 129 | | AIVERAUTHORITY.— 11 |
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| 130 | 130 | | (1) I |
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| 131 | 131 | | N GENERAL.—The President may waive, 12 |
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| 132 | 132 | | on a case-by-case basis and for a period of not more 13 |
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| 133 | 133 | | than 90 days, the prohibitions under subsection (a) 14 |
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| 134 | 134 | | not less than 30 days after the President determines 15 |
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| 135 | 135 | | and reports to the appropriate congressional com-16 |
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| 136 | 136 | | mittees that it is vital to the national security inter-17 |
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| 137 | 137 | | ests of the United States to waive such sanctions. 18 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (2) R |
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| 139 | 139 | | ENEWAL OF WAIVERS .—The President 19 |
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| 140 | 140 | | may, on a case-by-case basis, renew a waiver under 20 |
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| 141 | 141 | | paragraph (1) for an additional period of not more 21 |
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| 142 | 142 | | than 90 days if, not later than 15 days before that 22 |
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| 143 | 143 | | waiver expires, the President makes the determina-23 |
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| 144 | 144 | | tion and submits to the appropriate congressional 24 |
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| 145 | 145 | | committees a report described in paragraph (1). 25 |
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| 149 | 149 | | (3) CONTENT OF WAIVER REPORTS .—Each re-1 |
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| 150 | 150 | | port submitted under this subsection in connection 2 |
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| 151 | 151 | | with a waiver of the prohibitions under subsection 3 |
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| 152 | 152 | | (a), or the renewal of such a waiver, shall include— 4 |
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| 153 | 153 | | (A) a specific and detailed rationale for the 5 |
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| 154 | 154 | | determination that the waiver is vital to the na-6 |
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| 155 | 155 | | tional security interests of the United States; 7 |
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| 156 | 156 | | (B) a description of the transaction or type 8 |
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| 157 | 157 | | of transaction prohibited by this Act that will 9 |
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| 158 | 158 | | be permitted, including a list of prohibited for-10 |
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| 159 | 159 | | eign entities that are determined to be involved 11 |
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| 160 | 160 | | in the transaction or type of transaction; 12 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (C) an explanation of any efforts made by 13 |
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| 162 | 162 | | the United States to restrict financial flows to 14 |
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| 163 | 163 | | the regime of Nicolas Maduro in order to con-15 |
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| 164 | 164 | | strain his ability to repress the Venezuelan peo-16 |
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| 165 | 165 | | ple; and 17 |
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| 166 | 166 | | (D) an assessment of the impact of 18 |
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| 167 | 167 | | waiving the prohibitions under subsection (a) 19 |
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| 168 | 168 | | on— 20 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (i) the probability of achieving a 21 |
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| 170 | 170 | | democratic transition in Venezuela as de-22 |
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| 171 | 171 | | scribed in subsection (d)(1); 23 |
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| 172 | 172 | | (ii) the financial resources available to 24 |
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| 173 | 173 | | the regime of Nicolas Maduro or any non-25 |
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| 177 | 177 | | democratic successor government in Ven-1 |
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| 178 | 178 | | ezuela; and 2 |
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| 179 | 179 | | (iii) the ability of the regime of Nico-3 |
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| 180 | 180 | | las Maduro or any nondemocratic suc-4 |
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| 181 | 181 | | cessor government in Venezuela to violate 5 |
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| 182 | 182 | | human rights, engage in repression, or 6 |
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| 183 | 183 | | threaten the interests of the United States. 7 |
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| 184 | 184 | | (4) A |
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| 185 | 185 | | PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -8 |
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| 186 | 186 | | TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap-9 |
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| 187 | 187 | | propriate congressional committees’’ means— 10 |
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| 188 | 188 | | (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 11 |
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| 189 | 189 | | the House of Representatives; 12 |
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| 190 | 190 | | (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 13 |
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| 191 | 191 | | the Senate; 14 |
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| 192 | 192 | | (C) the Committee on Appropriations of 15 |
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| 193 | 193 | | the House of Representatives; and 16 |
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| 194 | 194 | | (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 17 |
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| 195 | 195 | | the Senate. 18 |
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| 196 | 196 | | (f) U |
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| 197 | 197 | | NITEDSTATESPERSONDEFINED.—In this sec-19 |
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| 198 | 198 | | tion, the term ‘‘United States person’’ means— 20 |
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| 199 | 199 | | (1) a United States citizen or alien lawfully ad-21 |
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| 200 | 200 | | mitted for permanent residence to the United States; 22 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (2) any entity organized under the laws of the 23 |
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| 202 | 202 | | United States or any jurisdiction within the United 24 |
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| 206 | 206 | | States (including a foreign branch of any such enti-1 |
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| 207 | 207 | | ty); and 2 |
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| 208 | 208 | | (3) any person physically located in the United 3 |
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| 209 | 209 | | States. 4 |
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| 210 | 210 | | Æ |
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