Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB805 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. 805
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY27, 2025
9	9	Mr. B
10	10	OOKER(for himself, Mr. KAINE, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr.
11	11	S
12	12	ANDERS, and Mr. WARNOCK) introduced the following bill; which was
13	13	read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To establish in the Department of State the Office to
16	16	Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Inter-4
21	21	national Islamophobia Act’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE 6
23	23	TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA. 7
24	24	Title I of the State Department Basic Authorities Act 8
25	25	of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a et seq.) is amended by adding 9
26	26	at the end the following new section: 10
27	27	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
28	28	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
29	29	•S 805 IS
30	30	‘‘SEC. 66. MONITORING AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA. 1
31	31	‘‘(a) O
32	32	FFICETOMONITOR AND COMBAT 2
33	33	I
34	34	SLAMOPHOBIA.— 3
35	35	‘‘(1) E
36	36	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 120 4
37	37	days after the date of the enactment of this section, 5
38	38	the Secretary of State shall establish within the De-6
39	39	partment of State an Office to Monitor and Combat 7
40	40	Islamophobia (in this section referred to as the ‘Of-8
41	41	fice’). 9
42	42	‘‘(2) H
43	43	EAD OF OFFICE.— 10
44	44	‘‘(A) S
45	45	PECIAL ENVOY FOR MONITORING 11
46	46	AND COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA .—The head of 12
47	47	the Office shall be the Special Envoy for Moni-13
48	48	toring and Combating Islamophobia (in this 14
49	49	section referred to as the ‘Special Envoy’) who 15
50	50	shall be appointed by the Secretary of State. 16
51	51	‘‘(B) A
52	52	PPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL ENVOY .— 17
53	53	The Secretary may— 18
54	54	‘‘(i) if considered appropriate by the 19
55	55	Secretary, appoint the Special Envoy from 20
56	56	among officers and employees of the De-21
57	57	partment of State; and 22
58	58	‘‘(ii) allow any such officer or em-23
59	59	ployee appointed as Special Envoy to re-24
60	60	tain the position (and the responsibilities 25
61	61	associated with such position) held by such 26
62	62	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
63	63	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
64	64	•S 805 IS
65	65	officer or employee prior to such appoint-1
66	66	ment. 2
67	67	‘‘(b) P
68	68	URPOSE OFOFFICE.—The Office shall be re-3
69	69	sponsible for the following: 4
70	70	‘‘(1) Monitoring and combating acts of 5
71	71	Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that 6
72	72	occur in foreign countries. 7
73	73	‘‘(2) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara-8
74	74	tion of that portion of the reports required by sec-9
75	75	tions 116(d)(9) and 502B(k) of the Foreign Assist-10
76	76	ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d), 2304(k)) re-11
77	77	lating to an assessment and description of the na-12
78	78	ture and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 13
79	79	Islamophobic incitement. 14
80	80	‘‘(3) Coordinating and assisting in the prepara-15
81	81	tion of that portion of the report required by section 16
82	82	102(b)(1)(A)(viii) of the International Religious 17
83	83	Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 18
84	84	6412(b)(1)(A)(viii)) relating to an assessment and 19
85	85	description of the nature and extent of acts of 20
86	86	Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement. 21
87	87	‘‘(c) C
88	88	ONSULTATIONS.—The Special Envoy shall con-22
89	89	sult with domestic and international nongovernmental or-23
90	90	ganizations and multilateral organizations and institu-24
91	91	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
92	92	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
93	93	•S 805 IS
94	94	tions, as the Special Envoy considers appropriate, to carry 1
95	95	out this section.’’. 2
96	96	SEC. 3. INCLUSION IN DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANNUAL RE-3
97	97	PORTS OF INFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS 4
98	98	OF ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 5
99	99	(a) I
100	100	NCLUSION INANNUALCOUNTRYREPORTS ON 6
101	101	H
102	102	UMANRIGHTSPRACTICES.—The Foreign Assistance 7
103	103	Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended— 8
104	104	(1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))— 9
105	105	(A) in paragraph (11)(C), by striking 10
106	106	‘‘and’’ at the end; 11
107	107	(B) in paragraph (12)(C)(ii), by striking 12
108	108	the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 13
109	109	(C) by redesignating paragraph (13) as 14
110	110	paragraph (14); 15
111	111	(D) in paragraph (14), as so redesignated, 16
112	112	by striking ‘‘Wherever applicable’’ and inserting 17
113	113	‘‘wherever applicable’’; and 18
114	114	(E) by inserting after paragraph (12) the 19
115	115	following new paragraph: 20
116	116	‘‘(13) wherever applicable, a description of the 21
117	117	nature and extent of acts of Islamophobia and 22
118	118	Islamophobic incitement that occurred during the 23
119	119	preceding year, including descriptions of— 24
120	120	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
121	121	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
122	122	•S 805 IS
123	123	‘‘(A) acts of physical violence against, or 1
124	124	harassment of, members of the Muslim commu-2
125	125	nity, and acts of violence against, or vandalism 3
126	126	of, Muslim community institutions, including 4
127	127	schools, mosques, and cemeteries; 5
128	128	‘‘(B) instances of propaganda in govern-6
129	129	ment and nongovernment media that attempt to 7
130	130	justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of 8
131	131	violence against members of the Muslim com-9
132	132	munity; 10
133	133	‘‘(C) the actions, if any, taken by the gov-11
134	134	ernment of that country to respond to such vio-12
135	135	lence and attacks or to eliminate such propa-13
136	136	ganda or incitement; 14
137	137	‘‘(D) the actions taken by such government 15
138	138	to enact and enforce laws relating to the protec-16
139	139	tion of the right to religious freedom of mem-17
140	140	bers of the Muslim community; and 18
141	141	‘‘(E) the efforts of such government to 19
142	142	promote anti-bias and tolerance education; 20
143	143	and’’; and 21
144	144	(2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by— 22
145	145	(A) redesignating the second subsection (i) 23
146	146	(relating to child marriage status) as subsection 24
147	147	(j); and 25
148	148	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
149	149	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
150	150	•S 805 IS
151	151	(B) by adding at the end the following new 1
152	152	subsection: 2
153	153	‘‘(k) I
154	154	NFORMATION CONCERNING ACTS OF 3
155	155	I
156	156	SLAMOPHOBIA INFOREIGNCOUNTRIES.—The report re-4
157	157	quired by subsection (b) shall include, wherever applicable, 5
158	158	a description of the nature and extent of acts of 6
159	159	Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occurred 7
160	160	during the preceding year, including descriptions of— 8
161	161	‘‘(1) acts of physical violence against, or harass-9
162	162	ment of, members of the Muslim community, and 10
163	163	acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 11
164	164	community institutions, including schools, mosques, 12
165	165	and cemeteries; 13
166	166	‘‘(2) instances of propaganda in government 14
167	167	and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or 15
168	168	promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence 16
169	169	against members of the Muslim community; 17
170	170	‘‘(3) the actions, if any, taken by the govern-18
171	171	ment of that country to respond to such violence and 19
172	172	attacks or to eliminate such propaganda or incite-20
173	173	ment; 21
174	174	‘‘(4) the actions taken by such government to 22
175	175	enact and enforce laws relating to the protection of 23
176	176	the right to religious freedom of members of the 24
177	177	Muslim community; and 25
178	178	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
179	179	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
180	180	•S 805 IS
181	181	‘‘(5) the efforts of such government to promote 1
182	182	anti-bias and tolerance education.’’. 2
183	183	(b) I
184	184	NCLUSION IN ANNUALREPORT ON INTER-3
185	185	NATIONALRELIGIOUSFREEDOM.—Section 102(b)(1)(A) 4
186	186	of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 5
187	187	U.S.C. 6412(b)(1)(A)) is amended— 6
188	188	(1) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7
189	189	(2) in clause (vii)(II), by striking the period at 8
190	190	the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9
191	191	(3) by adding at the end the following new 10
192	192	clause: 11
193	193	‘‘(viii) wherever applicable, an assess-12
194	194	ment and description of the nature and ex-13
195	195	tent of acts of Islamophobia and 14
196	196	Islamophobic incitement that occurred in 15
197	197	that country during the preceding the year, 16
198	198	including— 17
199	199	‘‘(I) acts of physical violence 18
200	200	against, or harassment of, members of 19
201	201	the Muslim community, acts of vio-20
202	202	lence against, or vandalism of, Muslim 21
203	203	community institutions, instances of 22
204	204	propaganda in government and non-23
205	205	government media that incite such 24
206	206	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
207	207	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
208	208	•S 805 IS
209	209	acts, and statements and actions re-1
210	210	lating thereto; and 2
211	211	‘‘(II) the actions taken by the 3
212	212	government of that country to re-4
213	213	spond to such violence and attacks or 5
214	214	to eliminate such propaganda or in-6
215	215	citement, to enact and enforce laws 7
216	216	relating to the protection of the right 8
217	217	to religious freedom of members of 9
218	218	the Muslim community, and to pro-10
219	219	mote anti-bias and tolerance edu-11
220	220	cation.’’. 12
221	221	(c) E
222	222	FFECTIVEDATE OFINCLUSIONS.—The amend-13
223	223	ments made by subsections (a) and (b) shall apply on the 14
224	224	date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of 15
225	225	this Act. 16
226	226	Æ
227	227	VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:17 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S805.IS S805
228	228	kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB