Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1221 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1221
5	5	To prohibit contracting with persons that have business operations with the
6	6	Maduro regime, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
9	9	Mr. S
10	10	COTTof Florida (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) intro-
11	11	duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
12	12	mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To prohibit contracting with persons that have business
15	15	operations with the Maduro regime, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Banning Operations 4
20	20	and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian 5
21	21	Regime Act’’ or the ‘‘BOLIVAR Act’’. 6
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24	24	•S 1221 IS
25	25	SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH PERSONS 1
26	26	THAT HAVE BUSINESS OPERATIONS WITH 2
27	27	THE MADURO REGIME. 3
28	28	(a) P
29	29	ROHIBITION.—Except as provided in subsections 4
30	30	(b), (c), and (d), the head of an executive agency may not 5
31	31	enter into a contract for the procurement of goods or serv-6
32	32	ices with any person that the head of an executive agency 7
33	33	determines, with the concurrence of the Secretary of 8
34	34	State, knowingly engages in significant business oper-9
35	35	ations with an authority of the Government of Venezuela 10
36	36	that is not recognized as the legitimate Government of 11
37	37	Venezuela by the United States. 12
38	38	(b) E
39	39	XCEPTIONS.— 13
40	40	(1) I
41	41	N GENERAL.—The prohibition under sub-14
42	42	section (a) does not apply to a contract that the Sec-15
43	43	retary of State determines— 16
44	44	(A) is necessary— 17
45	45	(i) for purposes of providing humani-18
46	46	tarian assistance to the people of Ven-19
47	47	ezuela; 20
48	48	(ii) for purposes of providing disaster 21
49	49	relief and other urgent life-saving meas-22
50	50	ures; or 23
51	51	(iii) to carry out noncombatant evacu-24
52	52	ations; or 25
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55	55	•S 1221 IS
56	56	(B) is in the national security interests of 1
57	57	the United States. 2
58	58	(2) S
59	59	UPPORT FOR UNITED STATES GOVERN -3
60	60	MENT ACTIVITIES.—The prohibition in subsection 4
61	61	(a) shall not apply to contracts that support United 5
62	62	States Government activities in Venezuela, including 6
63	63	those necessary for the maintenance of United 7
64	64	States Government facilities in Venezuela, or to con-8
65	65	tracts with international organizations. 9
66	66	(3) N
67	67	OTIFICATION REQUIREMENT .—The Sec-10
68	68	retary of State shall notify the appropriate congres-11
69	69	sional committees of any contract entered into on 12
70	70	the basis of an exception provided for under para-13
71	71	graph (1). 14
72	72	(c) O
73	73	FFICE OFFOREIGNASSETSCONTROLLI-15
74	74	CENSES.—The prohibition in subsection (a) does not apply 16
75	75	to a person that has a valid license to operate in Venezuela 17
76	76	issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. 18
77	77	(d) A
78	78	MERICANDIPLOMATICMISSION INVEN-19
79	79	EZUELA.—The prohibition in subsection (a) does not 20
80	80	apply to contracts related to the operation and mainte-21
81	81	nance of the United States Government’s consular offices 22
82	82	and diplomatic posts in Venezuela. 23
83	83	(e) W
84	84	AIVER.—The Secretary of State may waive the 24
85	85	requirements of subsection (a) if the Secretary of State 25
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88	88	•S 1221 IS
89	89	determines that to do so is in the national interest of the 1
90	90	United States. 2
91	91	(f) D
92	92	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
93	93	(1) A
94	94	PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -4
95	95	TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-5
96	96	mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu-6
97	97	rity and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 7
98	98	on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Com-8
99	99	mittee on Homeland Security and the Committee on 9
100	100	Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. 10
101	101	(2) B
102	102	USINESS OPERATIONS.—The term ‘‘busi-11
103	103	ness operations’’ means engaging in commerce in 12
104	104	any form, including acquiring, developing, maintain-13
105	105	ing, owning, selling, possessing, leasing, or operating 14
106	106	equipment, facilities, personnel, products, services, 15
107	107	personal property, real property, or any other appa-16
108	108	ratus of business or commerce. 17
109	109	(3) E
110	110	XECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 18
111	111	agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 19
112	112	133 of title 41, United States Code. 20
113	113	(4) G
114	114	OVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA .—(A) The 21
115	115	term ‘‘Government of Venezuela’’ includes the gov-22
116	116	ernment of any political subdivision of Venezuela, 23
117	117	and any agency or instrumentality of the Govern-24
118	118	ment of Venezuela. 25
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121	121	•S 1221 IS
122	122	(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the 1
123	123	term ‘‘agency or instrumentality of the Government 2
124	124	of Venezuela’’ means an agency or instrumentality 3
125	125	of a foreign state as defined in section 1603(b) of 4
126	126	title 28, United States Code, with each reference in 5
127	127	such section to ‘‘a foreign state’’ deemed to be a ref-6
128	128	erence to ‘‘Venezuela’’. 7
129	129	(5) P
130	130	ERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means— 8
131	131	(A) a natural person, corporation, com-9
132	132	pany, business association, partnership, society, 10
133	133	trust, or any other nongovernmental entity, or-11
134	134	ganization, or group; 12
135	135	(B) any governmental entity or instrumen-13
136	136	tality of a government; and 14
137	137	(C) any successor, subunit, parent entity, 15
138	138	or subsidiary of, or any entity under common 16
139	139	ownership or control with, any entity described 17
140	140	in subparagraph (A) or (B). 18
141	141	(g) T
142	142	ERM OFAPPLICABILITY.—This section shall 19
143	143	apply with respect to any contract entered into during the 20
144	144	three-year period beginning on the date of the enactment 21
145	145	of this Act. 22
146	146	Æ
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