Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB959 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. 959
5	5	To establish in the Department of State the Office to Monitor and Combat
6	6	Islamophobia, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY4, 2025
9	9	Ms. O
10	10	MAR(for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. CASAR, Ms. DEAN
11	11	of Pennsylvania, Mr. G
12	12	RIJALVA, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia,
13	13	Ms. M
14	14	CCOLLUM, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, and Mr. MCGOVERN) intro-
15	15	duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
16	16	Affairs
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To establish in the Department of State the Office to
19	19	Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Inter-4
24	24	national Islamophobia Act’’. 5
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27	27	•HR 959 IH
28	28	SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE 1
29	29	TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA. 2
30	30	Title I of the State Department Basic Authorities Act 3
31	31	of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a et seq.) is amended by adding 4
32	32	at the end the following new section: 5
33	33	‘‘SEC. 66. MONITORING AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA. 6
34	34	‘‘(a) O
35	35	FFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT 7
36	36	I
37	37	SLAMOPHOBIA.— 8
38	38	‘‘(1) E
39	39	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 120 9
40	40	days after the date of the enactment of this section, 10
41	41	the Secretary of State shall establish within the De-11
42	42	partment of State an Office to Monitor and Combat 12
43	43	Islamophobia (in this section referred to as the ‘Of-13
44	44	fice’). 14
45	45	‘‘(2) H
46	46	EAD OF OFFICE.— 15
47	47	‘‘(A) S
48	48	PECIAL ENVOY FOR MONITORING 16
49	49	AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA .—The head of 17
50	50	the Office shall be the Special Envoy for Moni-18
51	51	toring and Combating Islamophobia (in this 19
52	52	section referred to as the ‘Special Envoy’) who 20
53	53	shall be appointed by the Secretary of State. 21
54	54	‘‘(B) A
55	55	PPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL ENVOY .— 22
56	56	The Secretary may— 23
57	57	‘‘(i) if considered appropriate by the 24
58	58	Secretary, appoint the Special Envoy from 25
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61	61	•HR 959 IH
62	62	among officers and employees of the De-1
63	63	partment of State; and 2
64	64	‘‘(ii) allow any such officer or em-3
65	65	ployee appointed as Special Envoy to re-4
66	66	tain the position (and the responsibilities 5
67	67	associated with such position) held by such 6
68	68	officer or employee prior to such appoint-7
69	69	ment. 8
70	70	‘‘(b) P
71	71	URPOSE OFOFFICE.—The Office shall be re-9
72	72	sponsible for the following: 10
73	73	‘‘(1) Monitoring and combating acts of 11
74	74	Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that 12
75	75	occur in foreign countries. 13
76	76	‘‘(2) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara-14
77	77	tion of that portion of the reports required by sec-15
78	78	tions 116(d)(9) and 502B(k) of the Foreign Assist-16
79	79	ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d), 2304(k)) re-17
80	80	lating to an assessment and description of the na-18
81	81	ture and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 19
82	82	Islamophobic incitement. 20
83	83	‘‘(3) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara-21
84	84	tion of that portion of the report required by section 22
85	85	102(b)(1)(A)(viii) of the International Religious 23
86	86	Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 24
87	87	6412(b)(1)(A)(viii)) relating to an assessment and 25
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90	90	•HR 959 IH
91	91	description of the nature and extent of acts of 1
92	92	Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement. 2
93	93	‘‘(c) C
94	94	ONSULTATIONS.—The Special Envoy shall con-3
95	95	sult with domestic and international nongovernmental or-4
96	96	ganizations and multilateral organizations and institu-5
97	97	tions, as the Special Envoy considers appropriate, to carry 6
98	98	out this section.’’. 7
99	99	SEC. 3. INCLUSION IN DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANNUAL RE-8
100	100	PORTS OF INFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS 9
101	101	OF ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 10
102	102	(a) I
103	103	NCLUSION INANNUALCOUNTRYREPORTS ON 11
104	104	H
105	105	UMANRIGHTSPRACTICES.—The Foreign Assistance 12
106	106	Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended— 13
107	107	(1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))— 14
108	108	(A) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ 15
109	109	at the end; 16
110	110	(B) in paragraph (12), by striking the pe-17
111	111	riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 18
112	112	(C) by adding at the end the following new 19
113	113	paragraph: 20
114	114	‘‘(13) wherever applicable, a description of the 21
115	115	nature and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 22
116	116	Islamophobic incitement that occurred during the 23
117	117	preceding year, including descriptions of— 24
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120	120	•HR 959 IH
121	121	‘‘(A) acts of physical violence against, or 1
122	122	harassment of, members of the Muslim commu-2
123	123	nity, and acts of violence against, or vandalism 3
124	124	of, Muslim community institutions, including 4
125	125	schools, mosques, and cemeteries; 5
126	126	‘‘(B) instances of propaganda in govern-6
127	127	ment and nongovernment media that attempt to 7
128	128	justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of 8
129	129	violence against members of the Muslim com-9
130	130	munity; 10
131	131	‘‘(C) the actions, if any, taken by the gov-11
132	132	ernment of that country to respond to such vio-12
133	133	lence and attacks or to eliminate such propa-13
134	134	ganda or incitement; 14
135	135	‘‘(D) the actions taken by such government 15
136	136	to enact and enforce laws relating to the protec-16
137	137	tion of the right to religious freedom of mem-17
138	138	bers of the Muslim community; and 18
139	139	‘‘(E) the efforts of such government to 19
140	140	promote anti-bias and tolerance education.’’; 20
141	141	and 21
142	142	(2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by— 22
143	143	(A) redesignating the second subsection (i) 23
144	144	(relating to child marriage status) as subsection 24
145	145	(j); and 25
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148	148	•HR 959 IH
149	149	(B) by adding at the end the following new 1
150	150	subsection: 2
151	151	‘‘(k) I
152	152	NFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS OF 3
153	153	I
154	154	SLAMOPHOBIA INFOREIGNCOUNTRIES.—The report re-4
155	155	quired by subsection (b) shall include, wherever applicable, 5
156	156	a description of the nature and extent of acts of 6
157	157	Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occurred 7
158	158	during the preceding year, including descriptions of— 8
159	159	‘‘(1) acts of physical violence against, or harass-9
160	160	ment of, members of the Muslim community, and 10
161	161	acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 11
162	162	community institutions, including schools, mosques, 12
163	163	and cemeteries; 13
164	164	‘‘(2) instances of propaganda in government 14
165	165	and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or 15
166	166	promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence 16
167	167	against members of the Muslim community; 17
168	168	‘‘(3) the actions, if any, taken by the govern-18
169	169	ment of that country to respond to such violence and 19
170	170	attacks or to eliminate such propaganda or incite-20
171	171	ment; 21
172	172	‘‘(4) the actions taken by such government to 22
173	173	enact and enforce laws relating to the protection of 23
174	174	the right to religious freedom of members of the 24
175	175	Muslim community; and 25
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178	178	•HR 959 IH
179	179	‘‘(5) the efforts of such government to promote 1
180	180	anti-bias and tolerance education.’’. 2
181	181	(b) I
182	182	NCLUSION IN ANNUALREPORT ON INTER-3
183	183	NATIONALRELIGIOUSFREEDOM.—Section 102(b)(1)(A) 4
184	184	of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 5
185	185	U.S.C. 6412(b)(1)(A)) is amended— 6
186	186	(1) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7
187	187	(2) in clause (vii)(II), by striking the period at 8
188	188	the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9
189	189	(3) by adding at the end the following new 10
190	190	clause: 11
191	191	‘‘(viii) wherever applicable, an assess-12
192	192	ment and description of the nature and ex-13
193	193	tent of acts of Islamophobia and 14
194	194	Islamophobic incitement that occurred in 15
195	195	that country during the preceding the year, 16
196	196	including— 17
197	197	‘‘(I) acts of physical violence 18
198	198	against, or harassment of, members of 19
199	199	the Muslim community, acts of vio-20
200	200	lence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 21
201	201	community institutions, instances of 22
202	202	propaganda in government and non-23
203	203	government media that incite such 24
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206	206	•HR 959 IH
207	207	acts, and statements and actions re-1
208	208	lating thereto; and 2
209	209	‘‘(II) the actions taken by the 3
210	210	government of that country to re-4
211	211	spond to such violence and attacks or 5
212	212	to eliminate such propaganda or in-6
213	213	citement, to enact and enforce laws 7
214	214	relating to the protection of the right 8
215	215	to religious freedom of members of 9
216	216	the Muslim community, and to pro-10
217	217	mote anti-bias and tolerance edu-11
218	218	cation.’’. 12
219	219	(c) E
220	220	FFECTIVEDATE OFINCLUSIONS.—The amend-13
221	221	ments made by subsections (a) and (b) shall apply on the 14
222	222	date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of 15
223	223	this Act. 16
224	224	Æ
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