Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1274 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 1274
55 To prohibit the export of liquefied natural gas and petroleum products to
66 certain countries.
77 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
88 APRIL3, 2025
99 Mr. M
1010 ERKLEY(for himself, Mr. REED, and Mr. KING) introduced the fol-
1111 lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Bank-
1212 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs
1313 A BILL
1414 To prohibit the export of liquefied natural gas and petroleum
1515 products to certain countries.
1616 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1717 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1818 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
1919 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting American 4
2020 Households From Rising Energy Costs Act of 2025’’. 5
2121 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
2222 In this Act: 7
2323 (1) P
2424 ETROLEUM PRODUCT .—The term ‘‘petro-8
2525 leum product’’ has the meaning given the term in 9
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2929 section 3 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act 1
3030 (42 U.S.C. 6202). 2
3131 (2) S
3232 ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3
3333 the Secretary of Energy. 4
3434 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON EXPORTS OF LIQUEFIED NAT-5
3535 URAL GAS AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS TO 6
3636 CERTAIN COUNTRIES. 7
3737 (a) P
3838 ROHIBITIONS.— 8
3939 (1) I
4040 N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 9
4141 provision of law, unless a waiver has been issued 10
4242 under subsection (b), no person or entity may export 11
4343 or resell, either directly or indirectly through 1 or 12
4444 more third parties, liquefied natural gas or petro-13
4545 leum products— 14
4646 (A) to any entity operating in the territory 15
4747 of, or territory owned by, the People’s Republic 16
4848 of China (or the Chinese Communist Party), 17
4949 the Russian Federation, the Democratic Peo-18
5050 ple’s Republic of Korea, or the Islamic Republic 19
5151 of Iran; or 20
5252 (B) to any entity that is under the owner-21
5353 ship or control, as determined by the Secretary 22
5454 in consultation with the Secretary of the Treas-23
5555 ury and the Secretary of Commerce, of the Peo-24
5656 ple’s Republic of China (or the Chinese Com-25
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6060 munist Party), the Russian Federation, the 1
6161 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or the 2
6262 Islamic Republic of Iran. 3
6363 (2) R
6464 ESPONSIBILITY.—It is the responsibility of 4
6565 the export authorization holder to ensure compliance 5
6666 with this Act and any other applicable law or policy, 6
6767 including rules, regulations, orders, and other deter-7
6868 minations made by— 8
6969 (A) the Office of Foreign Assets Control of 9
7070 the Department of the Treasury; and 10
7171 (B) the Federal Energy Regulatory Com-11
7272 mission. 12
7373 (b) W
7474 AIVER.— 13
7575 (1) I
7676 N GENERAL.—On application by an ex-14
7777 porter, the Secretary may waive, prior to the date of 15
7878 the applicable contract, the prohibitions described in 16
7979 subsection (a) with respect to the sale of liquefied 17
8080 natural gas or petroleum products. 18
8181 (2) R
8282 EQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may issue a 19
8383 waiver under this subsection only if the Secretary 20
8484 determines that an imminent and acute national se-21
8585 curity emergency to the United States exists and 22
8686 that other means of responding to the emergency 23
8787 would be inadequate. 24
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9191 (3) APPLICATIONS.—An exporter seeking a 1
9292 waiver under this subsection shall submit to the Sec-2
9393 retary an application by such date, in such form, 3
9494 and containing such information as the Secretary 4
9595 may require. 5
9696 (4) N
9797 OTICE TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 15 6
9898 days after issuing a waiver under this subsection, 7
9999 the Secretary shall provide a copy of the waiver to 8
100100 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 9
101101 the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com-10
102102 merce of the House of Representatives. 11
103103 (c) R
104104 ULEMAKING.—The Secretary may promulgate, 12
105105 amend, and rescind rules and regulations, as the Secretary 13
106106 determines to be appropriate, to carry out this Act. 14
107107 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS. 15
108108 (a) U
109109 NLAWFULACTS.—It shall be unlawful for a per-16
110110 son to violate, attempt to violate, conspire to violate, or 17
111111 cause a violation of any prohibition of, or any waiver, li-18
112112 cense, order, or regulation issued pursuant to this Act. 19
113113 (b) C
114114 IVILPENALTY.— 20
115115 (1) I
116116 N GENERAL.—The Secretary may impose a 21
117117 civil penalty on any person who commits an unlawful 22
118118 act described in subsection (a) in an amount not to 23
119119 exceed the greater of— 24
120120 (A) $250,000,000; and 25
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124124 (B) an amount that is twice the amount of 1
125125 the transaction that is the basis of the violation 2
126126 with respect to which the penalty is imposed. 3
127127 (2) N
128128 OTICE AND OPPORTUNITY FOR HEAR -4
129129 ING.—A civil penalty under paragraph (1) may be 5
130130 imposed by the Secretary by an order made on the 6
131131 record after providing written notice to the person to 7
132132 be assessed the civil penalty and an opportunity for 8
133133 a hearing in accordance with this section and sec-9
134134 tions 554 through 557 of title 5, United States 10
135135 Code. 11
136136 (3) C
137137 IVIL ACTION.—If a person described in 12
138138 paragraph (1) fails to pay a civil penalty imposed by 13
139139 the Secretary under this subsection after receiving 14
140140 notice and an opportunity for a hearing under para-15
141141 graph (2), the Secretary may bring a civil action 16
142142 against that person in an appropriate district court 17
143143 of the United States. 18
144144 (4) R
145145 ELIEF.—If a civil action brought by the 19
146146 Secretary under paragraph (3) is successful, the ap-20
147147 plicable court may grant appropriate relief, includ-21
148148 ing— 22
149149 (A) a temporary injunction; 23
150150 (B) a permanent injunction; and 24
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154154 (C) enforcing the civil penalties described 1
155155 in paragraph (1). 2
156156 (c) C
157157 RIMINALPENALTY.—A person who knowingly 3
158158 commits, knowingly attempts to commit, or knowingly 4
159159 conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the commission 5
160160 of, an unlawful act described in subsection (a) shall be 6
161161 fined not more than $100,000,000, imprisoned for not 7
162162 more than 20 years, or both. 8
163163 Æ
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