Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB476 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. 476
5	5	To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to any foreign person
6	6	who knowingly participates in the construction, maintenance, or repair
7	7	of a tunnel or bridge that connects the Russian mainland with the
8	8	Crimean peninsula.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY16, 2025
11	11	Mr. M
12	12	EEKS(for himself, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. WILSONof South Carolina, Mr.
13	13	A
14	14	MO, Mr. KEATING, and Mr. GOTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill;
15	15	which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition
16	16	to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently deter-
17	17	mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
18	18	as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
19	19	A BILL
20	20	To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to any
21	21	foreign person who knowingly participates in the con-
22	22	struction, maintenance, or repair of a tunnel or bridge
23	23	that connects the Russian mainland with the Crimean
24	24	peninsula.
25	25	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
26	26	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
27	27	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
28	28	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Russian Tunnel 4
29	29	to Crimea Act’’. 5
30	30	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
31	31	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
32	32	•HR 476 IH
33	33	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
34	34	Congress makes the following findings: 2
35	35	(1) In February and March 2014, the Russian 3
36	36	Federation invaded the Crimean peninsula and an-4
37	37	nexed Crimea, internationally recognized as Ukrain-5
38	38	ian territory. 6
39	39	(2) Following its annexation of Crimea, the 7
40	40	Russian Federation constructed the Kerch Strait 8
41	41	Bridge to connect the Russian mainland with the 9
42	42	Crimean peninsula. 10
43	43	(3) On February 24, 2022, the Government of 11
44	44	the Russian Federation, led by Vladimir Putin, 12
45	45	launched an unprovoked, full-scale invasion of 13
46	46	Ukraine. 14
47	47	(4) The Russian Federation has used Crimea as 15
48	48	an integral part of its full scale invasion of Ukraine, 16
49	49	including to house Russian troops, store ammunition 17
50	50	and weapons, and host the Black Sea Fleet. 18
51	51	(5) In October 2023, it was publicly reported 19
52	52	that Russian and Chinese business officials met and 20
53	53	exchanged emails to discuss building a tunnel from 21
54	54	the Russian mainland to illegally occupied Crimea. 22
55	55	SEC. 3. SANCTIONS. 23
56	56	(a) I
57	57	NGENERAL.—The President shall impose sanc-24
58	58	tions described in subsection (b) with respect to any for-25
59	59	eign person who knowingly participates in the construc-26
60	60	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
61	61	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
62	62	•HR 476 IH
63	63	tion, maintenance, or repair of a tunnel or bridge that con-1
64	64	nects the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula. 2
65	65	(b) S
66	66	ANCTIONSDESCRIBED.—The sanctions de-3
67	67	scribed in this subsection are the following: 4
68	68	(1) A
69	69	SSET BLOCKING.—Notwithstanding the re-5
70	70	quirements of section 202 of the International 6
71	71	Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701), 7
72	72	the President may exercise of all powers granted to 8
73	73	the President by that Act to the extent necessary to 9
74	74	block and prohibit all transactions in all property 10
75	75	and interests in property of the foreign person if 11
76	76	such property and interests in property are in the 12
77	77	United States, come within the United States, or are 13
78	78	or come within the possession or control of a United 14
79	79	States person. 15
80	80	(2) V
81	81	ISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.— 16
82	82	(A) I
83	83	N GENERAL.—An alien who the Sec-17
84	84	retary of State or the Secretary of Homeland 18
85	85	Security (or a designee of one of such Secre-19
86	86	taries) knows, or has reason to believe, is de-20
87	87	scribed in subsection (a) is— 21
88	88	(i) inadmissible to the United States; 22
89	89	(ii) ineligible for a visa or other docu-23
90	90	mentation to enter the United States; and 24
91	91	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
92	92	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
93	93	•HR 476 IH
94	94	(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 1
95	95	or paroled into the United States or to re-2
96	96	ceive any other benefit under the Immigra-3
97	97	tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 4
98	98	seq.). 5
99	99	(B) C
100	100	URRENT VISAS REVOKED .— 6
101	101	(i) I
102	102	N GENERAL.—The issuing con-7
103	103	sular officer, the Secretary of State, or the 8
104	104	Secretary of Homeland Security (or a des-9
105	105	ignee of one of such Secretaries) shall, in 10
106	106	accordance with section 221(i) of the Im-11
107	107	migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 12
108	108	1201(i)), revoke any visa or other entry 13
109	109	documentation issued to an alien described 14
110	110	in subparagraph (A) regardless of when 15
111	111	the visa or other entry documentation is 16
112	112	issued. 17
113	113	(ii) E
114	114	FFECT OF REVOCATION .—A rev-18
115	115	ocation under clause (i)— 19
116	116	(I) shall take effect immediately; 20
117	117	and 21
118	118	(II) shall automatically cancel 22
119	119	any other valid visa or entry docu-23
120	120	mentation that is in the alien’s pos-24
121	121	session. 25
122	122	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
123	123	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
124	124	•HR 476 IH
125	125	(c) EXCEPTIONS.— 1
126	126	(1) E
127	127	XCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER -2
128	128	NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS .—Sanctions under sub-3
129	129	section (b)(2) shall not apply with respect to the ad-4
130	130	mission of an alien if admitting or paroling the alien 5
131	131	into the United States is necessary to permit the 6
132	132	United States to comply with the Agreement regard-7
133	133	ing the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed 8
134	134	at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into 9
135	135	force November 21, 1947, between the United Na-10
136	136	tions and the United States, or other applicable 11
137	137	international obligations. 12
138	138	(2) E
139	139	XCEPTION RELATING TO THE PROVISION 13
140	140	OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE .—Sanctions under 14
141	141	this section may not be imposed with respect to 15
142	142	transactions or the facilitation of transactions for— 16
143	143	(A) the sale of agricultural commodities, 17
144	144	food, medicine, or medical devices; 18
145	145	(B) the provision of humanitarian assist-19
146	146	ance; 20
147	147	(C) financial transactions relating to hu-21
148	148	manitarian assistance; or 22
149	149	(D) transporting goods or services that are 23
150	150	necessary to carry out operations relating to 24
151	151	humanitarian assistance. 25
152	152	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
153	153	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
154	154	•HR 476 IH
155	155	(3) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE , LAW EN-1
156	156	FORCEMENT, AND NATIONAL SECURITY ACTIVI -2
157	157	TIES.—Sanctions under this section shall not apply 3
158	158	to any authorized intelligence, law enforcement, or 4
159	159	national security activities of the United States. 5
160	160	(d) C
161	161	LASSIFIEDINFORMATION.—In any judicial re-6
162	162	view of a determination made under this section, if the 7
163	163	determination was based on classified information (as de-8
164	164	fined in section 1(a) of the Classified Information Proce-9
165	165	dures Act) such information may be submitted to the re-10
166	166	viewing court ex parte and in camera. This subsection does 11
167	167	not confer or imply any right to judicial review. 12
168	168	(e) I
169	169	MPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 13
170	170	(1) I
171	171	MPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex-14
172	172	ercise all authorities provided to the President under 15
173	173	sections 203 and 205 of the International Emer-16
174	174	gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 17
175	175	1704) to carry out this section. 18
176	176	(2) P
177	177	ENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 19
178	178	subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-20
179	179	national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 21
180	180	U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, 22
181	181	attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 23
182	182	violation of regulations promulgated to carry out 24
183	183	this section to the same extent that such penalties 25
184	184	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
185	185	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
186	186	•HR 476 IH
187	187	apply to a person who commits an unlawful act de-1
188	188	scribed in section 206(a) of that Act. 2
189	189	(f) W
190	190	AIVER.—The President may waive the applica-3
191	191	tion of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign person 4
192	192	under this section if the President certifies to the appro-5
193	193	priate congressional committees not later than 15 days be-6
194	194	fore such waiver is to take effect that the waiver is impor-7
195	195	tant to the national security interests of the United States. 8
196	196	(g) D
197	197	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 9
198	198	(1) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-10
199	199	mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 11
200	200	the House of Representatives and the Committee on 12
201	201	Foreign Relations of the Senate; 13
202	202	(2) the term ‘‘foreign person’’ means an indi-14
203	203	vidual or entity that is not a United States person; 15
204	204	and 16
205	205	(3) the term ‘‘United States person’’ means— 17
206	206	(A) a United States citizen; 18
207	207	(B) a permanent resident alien of the 19
208	208	United States; 20
209	209	(C) an entity organized under the laws of 21
210	210	the United States or of any jurisdiction within 22
211	211	the United States, including a foreign branch of 23
212	212	such an entity; or 24
213	213	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
214	214	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
215	215	•HR 476 IH
216	216	(D) a person in the United States. 1
217	217	Æ
218	218	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H476.IH H476
219	219	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS