II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 261
To immediately halt investment by United States persons in the energy
sector of Venezuela until the legitimate results of the July 28, 2024,
election are respected.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY27, 2025
Mr. D
URBINintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To immediately halt investment by United States persons
in the energy sector of Venezuela until the legitimate
results of the July 28, 2024, election are respected.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Halt All United States 4
Investments in Venezuela’s Energy Sector Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress makes the following findings: 7
(1) On July 28, 2024, more than 10,000,000 8
citizens of Venezuela voted in a presidential election 9
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•S 261 IS
in which meticulously documented and publicized 1
data from credible election monitors clearly and con-2
vincingly showed that opposition candidate Edmundo 3
Gonzalez received more than two-thirds of the votes 4
against the regime of Nicolas Maduro. 5
(2) The Maduro regime has refused to respect 6
the overwhelming choice of the people of Venezuela 7
and subsequently arrested and abused thousands of 8
innocent citizens of Venezuela, including children, 9
for peaceful political participation. 10
(3) Despite overwhelming evidence that 11
Edmundo Gonzalez won a decisive victory to be Ven-12
ezuela’s next president, the Maduro regime ignored 13
the results of the election and the law of Venezuela 14
by forcibly refusing to allow Gonzalez to be sworn in 15
on Venezuela’s January 10, 2025, inauguration day. 16
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON INVESTMENT BY UNITED STATES 17
PERSONS IN ENERGY SECTOR OF VENEZUELA 18
UNTIL THE LEGITIMATE RESULTS OF THE 19
JULY 28, 2024, ELECTION ARE RESPECTED. 20
(a) P
ROHIBITION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the 22
enactment of this Act, the following transactions are 23
prohibited: 24
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(A) Any petroleum-related transaction al-1
lowed— 2
(i) as a result of the Partial Agree-3
ment on the Promotion of Political Rights 4
and Electoral Guarantees for All, agreed to 5
by the regime of Nicolas Maduro and the 6
political opposition in Venezuela in October 7
2023 (commonly known as the ‘‘Barbados 8
Agreement’’); or 9
(ii) pursuant to a license issued after 10
entry into that agreement relating to pe-11
troleum-related transactions with Ven-12
ezuela. 13
(B) Any transaction allowed under General 14
License No. 41 or General License No. 8M of 15
the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the De-16
partment of the Treasury on the day before 17
such date of enactment. 18
(2) A
PPLICABILITY.—The prohibitions under 19
paragraph (1) shall apply to the extent provided by 20
law and regulations, orders, directives, or licenses 21
that may be issued pursuant to this section. 22
(b) N
ATIONALSECURITYWAIVER.—The President 23
may waive the prohibitions under subsection (a) if the 24
President— 25
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•S 261 IS
(1) determines that the waiver is in the national 1
security interests of the United States; and 2
(2) submits in writing to the appropriate con-3
gressional committees a report, which may include a 4
classified annex, on that determination and the rea-5
sons for the determination. 6
(c) I
MPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 7
(1) I
MPLEMENTATION.— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 9
Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 10
State, may take such actions, including pre-11
scribing regulations, as are necessary to imple-12
ment this section. 13
(B) IEEPA
AUTHORITIES.—For purposes 14
of implementing this section, the Secretary of 15
the Treasury may exercise the authorities pro-16
vided to the President under sections 203 and 17
205 of the International Emergency Economic 18
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704). 19
(2) P
ENALTIES.—A person that violates, at-20
tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 21
violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 22
directive, or order issued to carry out that sub-23
section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in 24
subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-25
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national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 1
U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 2
commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 3
of that section. 4
(d) R
ESPONSIBILITY OF OTHERAGENCIES.—All 5
agencies of the United States Government shall take all 6
appropriate measures within their authority to carry out 7
the provisions of this section. 8
(e) T
ERMINATION OF PROHIBITION.—The prohibi-9
tions under subsection (a) shall terminate on the date on 10
which the President submits to Congress a determination 11
that the regime of Nicolas Maduro has recognized the July 12
28, 2024, electoral victory of Edmundo Gonzalez and re-13
linquished power to the legitimately democratically elected 14
government in Venezuela or to a transitional government 15
that includes and is agreed to by the legitimately elected 16
political opposition in Venezuela. 17
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -19
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-20
mittees’’ means— 21
(A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 22
and Urban Affairs and the Committee on For-23
eign Relations of the Senate; and 24
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(B) the Committee on Financial Services 1
and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 2
House of Representatives. 3
(2) U
NITED STATES PERSON .—The term 4
‘‘United States person’’ means— 5
(A) a United States citizen or alien law-6
fully admitted for permanent residence to the 7
United States; 8
(B) any entity organized under the laws of 9
the United States or any jurisdiction within the 10
United States (including a foreign branch of 11
any such entity); and 12
(C) any person physically located in the 13
United States. 14
Æ
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