Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB340 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. 340
5	5	To direct the President to designate a month as African Diaspora Heritage
6	6	Month.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY30, 2025
9	9	Mr. K
10	10	AINE(for himself, Mr. CORNYN, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the fol-
11	11	lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the
12	12	Judiciary
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To direct the President to designate a month as African
15	15	Diaspora Heritage Month.
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 ‘‘African Diaspora Her-4
20	20	itage Month Act of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
22	22	Congress finds that— 7
23	23	(1) the African diaspora population in the 8
24	24	United States has grown significantly in recent 9
25	25	years, with the number of African immigrants grow-10
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29	29	ing at a rate of almost 246 percent from 2000 to 1
30	30	2019; 2
31	31	(2) as of 2024, the African diaspora in the 3
32	32	United States was comprised of approximately 4
33	33	50,000,000 people; 5
34	34	(3) the African diaspora community is one of 6
35	35	the most diverse communities in the United States, 7
36	36	inclusive of people who speak multiple languages, 8
37	37	whose rich heritage comes from all across the Afri-9
38	38	can continent, and whose members practice various 10
39	39	faiths; 11
40	40	(4) during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, 12
41	41	a significant number of enslaved people from Africa 13
42	42	were brought to the United States; 14
43	43	(5) immigrants of African origin boast some of 15
44	44	the highest educational achievements of any immi-16
45	45	grant group; 17
46	46	(6) African diaspora households contribute bil-18
47	47	lions of dollars to the economy of the United States, 19
48	48	with an estimated $10,100,000,000 in Federal taxes, 20
49	49	$4,700,000,000 in State and local taxes, and a 21
50	50	spending power of more than $40,300,000,000 in 22
51	51	2015; 23
52	52	(7) Sub-Saharan African immigrants living in 24
53	53	the United States, Europe, and elsewhere sent back 25
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57	57	$46,000,000,000 in remittances to the continent of 1
58	58	Africa in 2021; 2
59	59	(8) Government agencies, including the Inter-3
60	60	national Development Finance Corporation, the De-4
61	61	partment of Commerce, the Department of the 5
62	62	Treasury, and the United States Trade Representa-6
63	63	tive are critical to investments and enduring mutual 7
64	64	partnerships between the United States and African 8
65	65	nations; 9
66	66	(9) in 2023, through the African Growth and 10
67	67	Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.), the 11
68	68	United States imported $9,700,000,000 in goods 12
69	69	and resources; 13
70	70	(10) Prosper Africa and other similar Govern-14
71	71	ment initiatives are critical to building and strength-15
72	72	ening ties between the United States and African 16
73	73	businesses; 17
74	74	(11) the total two-way goods trade with Sub- 18
75	75	Saharan Africa totaled $47,500,000,000 in 2023, a 19
76	76	6.2 percent increase from $44,700,000,000 in 2021; 20
77	77	(12) the African diaspora plays an invaluable 21
78	78	role in shaping Government policy; 22
79	79	(13) members of the African diaspora have an 23
80	80	invaluable understanding of cross-cultural engage-24
81	81	ment between the United States and Africa, existing 25
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85	85	relations and networks on the African continent, and 1
86	86	can support efforts to facilitate stronger people-to- 2
87	87	people ties between the United States and Africa; 3
88	88	(14) the United States is committed to 4
89	89	strengthening the government-to-government rela-5
90	90	tionships between the United States and countries 6
91	91	throughout the African continent; 7
92	92	(15) Congress strongly supports the hosting of 8
93	93	the second United States-Africa Leaders Summit by 9
94	94	the United States, which was held in December 10
95	95	2022, to boost collaboration between the Govern-11
96	96	ment and the African diaspora community in the 12
97	97	United States, and to strengthen ties between the 13
98	98	United States and African nations by bringing to-14
99	99	gether approximately 49 African heads of state; 15
100	100	(16) the African diaspora harbors a deep com-16
101	101	mitment to family and community, an enduring 17
102	102	work ethic, and a perseverance to succeed and con-18
103	103	tribute to the society of the United States; 19
104	104	(17) all members of the African diaspora in the 20
105	105	United States deserve access to any Federal re-21
106	106	sources they are legally eligible to receive and free-22
107	107	dom to participate in civil life in the United States; 23
108	108	and 24
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112	112	(18) the African diaspora community signifi-1
113	113	cantly contributes to the growth and prosperity of 2
114	114	the United States, and Congress honors this abun-3
115	115	dant and growing community. 4
116	116	SEC. 3. AFRICAN DIASPORA HERITAGE MONTH. 5
117	117	(a) I
118	118	NGENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 36, United 6
119	119	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
120	120	lowing: 8
121	121	‘‘§ 149. African Diaspora Heritage Month 9
122	122	‘‘The President shall issue each year a proclama-10
123	123	tion— 11
124	124	‘‘(1) designating a month as African Diaspora 12
125	125	Heritage Month; 13
126	126	‘‘(2) calling on State and local governments and 14
127	127	the people of the United States to observe African 15
128	128	Diaspora Heritage Month with appropriate pro-16
129	129	grams and activities; and 17
130	130	‘‘(3) urging civil and educational authorities of 18
131	131	States and local governments to observe African Di-19
132	132	aspora Heritage Month through appropriate pro-20
133	133	grams and activities.’’. 21
134	134	(b) T
135	135	ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 22
136	136	The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 36, United 23
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139	139	•S 340 IS
140	140	States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat-1
141	141	ing to section 148 the following: 2
142	142	‘‘149. African Diaspora Heritage Month.’’.
143	143	Æ
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