II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 985
To prohibit entities integral to the national interests of the United States
from participating in any foreign sustainability due diligence regulation,
including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive of the
European Union, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH12, 2025
Mr. H
AGERTYintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To prohibit entities integral to the national interests of the
United States from participating in any foreign sustain-
ability due diligence regulation, including the Corporate
Sustainability Due Diligence Directive of the European
Union, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Prevent Regulatory 4
Overreach from Turning Essential Companies into Tar-5
gets Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘PROTECT USA Act of 2025’’. 6
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•S 985 IS
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress makes the following findings: 2
(1) The ability of citizens of the United States 3
to engage in international commerce is a funda-4
mental concern of the policy of the United States. 5
(2) Entities in the extractive and manufac-6
turing sectors contribute significantly to the pros-7
perity of the United States and the growth of the 8
world economy. 9
(3) Maintaining and, in some cases, increasing 10
access to certain supplies and materials from the ex-11
tractive sector, including agriculture, energy, mining, 12
and timber, and access to materials from the manu-13
facturing sector, are critically important for pro-14
moting economic development and human progress 15
in the United States and around the world. 16
(4) Restrictions, particularly restrictions adopt-17
ed unilaterally by foreign countries that are substan-18
tially different from restrictions applied by the 19
United States, that unreasonably hinder the ability 20
of entities integral to the national interests of the 21
United States to pursue their commercial activities 22
can have serious adverse effects on employment, eco-23
nomic stability, scientific progress, and international 24
trade, with the potential to impede domestic and for-25
eign policy goals. 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•S 985 IS
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) E
NTITY INTEGRAL TO THE NATIONAL IN -3
TERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES .—The term ‘‘enti-4
ty integral to the national interests of the United 5
States’’ means any partnership, corporation, limited 6
liability company, or other business entity that— 7
(A) does business with any part of the 8
Federal Government, including Federal contract 9
awards or leases; 10
(B) is organized under the laws of any 11
State or territory within the United States, or 12
of the District of Columbia, or under any Act 13
of Congress or a foreign subsidiary of any such 14
entity that— 15
(i) derives not less than 25 percent of 16
its revenue from activities related to the 17
extraction or production of raw materials 18
from the earth, including— 19
(I) cultivating biomass (whether 20
or not for human consumption); 21
(II) exploring or producing fossil 22
fuels; 23
(III) mining; and 24
(IV) processing any material de-25
rived from an activity described in 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•S 985 IS
subclause (I), (II), or (III) for human 1
use or benefit; 2
(ii) has a primary North American In-3
dustry Classification System code or for-4
eign equivalent associated with the manu-5
facturing sector; 6
(iii) derives not less than 25 percent 7
of its revenue from activities related to the 8
mechanical, physical, or chemical trans-9
formation of materials, substances, or com-10
ponents into new products; or 11
(iv) is engaged in— 12
(I) the production of arms or 13
other products integral to the national 14
defense of the United States; or 15
(II) the production, mining, or 16
processing of any critical mineral; or 17
(C) the President otherwise identifies as 18
integral to the national interests of the United 19
States. 20
(2) C
RITICAL MINERAL.—The term ‘‘critical 21
mineral’’ includes— 22
(A) any mineral identified as a critical 23
mineral in section 7002(a) of the Energy Act of 24
2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)); or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•S 985 IS
(B) any fuel mineral, including fossil fuels 1
and any fraction, distillate, or other by-product 2
of a fuel mineral. 3
(3) F
OREIGN SUSTAINABILITY DUE DILIGENCE 4
REGULATION.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 6
subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘foreign sustain-7
ability due diligence regulation’’ means any law, 8
regulation, or other legal instrument adopted by 9
a foreign government that requires any person 10
to undertake— 11
(i) an assessment of the environ-12
mental or social impacts of its operations 13
or value chain; 14
(ii) action to address any impacts 15
identified in the assessment described in 16
clause (i); and 17
(iii) reporting of the impacts and ac-18
tions described in clauses (i) and (ii). 19
(B) E
XCEPTION.—The term ‘‘foreign sus-20
tainability due diligence regulation’’ does not 21
apply to any law, regulation, or other legal in-22
strument that is substantively similar to a law, 23
regulation, or other legal instrument that has 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•S 985 IS
been adopted or approved by an Act of Con-1
gress. 2
(C) I
NCLUSION OF CORPORATE SUSTAIN -3
ABILITY DUE DILIGENCE DIRECTIVE .—The 4
term ‘‘foreign sustainability due diligence regu-5
lation’’ includes— 6
(i) the entirety of the Corporate Sus-7
tainability Due Diligence Directive adopted 8
by the European Union; 9
(ii) any successor directive adopted by 10
the European Union or any member coun-11
try of the European Union; and 12
(iii) any precursor directive adopted 13
by any member country of the European 14
Union. 15
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON COMPLIANCE WITH FOREIGN SUS-16
TAINABILITY DUE DILIGENCE REGULATIONS. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 18
(b), no entity integral to the national interests of the 19
United States may comply with any foreign sustainability 20
due diligence regulation. 21
(b) E
XCEPTION FOR ORDINARYBUSINESSACTIVI-22
TIES.—Subsection (a) does not prohibit an entity from un-23
dertaking actions that it may lawfully take— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•S 985 IS
(1) to comply with a statute of the United 1
States; or 2
(2) in the ordinary course of business. 3
(c) H
ARDSHIPRELIEFPROCESS.— 4
(1) P
ETITION FOR RELIEF .—Any entity inte-5
gral to the national interests of the United States 6
that believes it will experience particular hardship in 7
connection with the prohibition described in sub-8
section (a) may petition the President for an exemp-9
tion from such prohibition. 10
(2) D
ECISION.—Not later than 30 days after 11
the date on which the President receives a petition 12
from an entity submitted under paragraph (1), the 13
President shall provide a written decision to the en-14
tity that— 15
(A) grants or denies the requested exemp-16
tion; 17
(B) contains a statement setting forth the 18
basis for the decision; and 19
(C) in the case of a granted exemption, de-20
scribes any condition that the exemption is sub-21
ject to, as determined by the President. 22
(3) F
ACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED .—In making 23
the decision required by paragraph (2), the Presi-24
dent shall consider— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•S 985 IS
(A) the extent to which the denial of a pe-1
tition submitted under paragraph (1) by an en-2
tity would result in the inability of the entity to 3
participate in value chains associated with prod-4
ucts essential for domestic use in the United 5
States; 6
(B) possible adverse effects on the econ-7
omy in any locality or region of the United 8
States, including adverse effects on employ-9
ment; 10
(C) the degree to which granting the peti-11
tion would impact, directly or indirectly, the 12
United States; and 13
(D) the extent to which denial of the peti-14
tion would prevent the entity from divesting in 15
a business formed under the laws of a jurisdic-16
tion subject to a foreign sustainability due dili-17
gence regulation. 18
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION AGAINST ADVERSE ACTION FOR COM-19
PLIANCE WITH THIS ACT. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—No person may take any adverse 21
action towards an entity integral to the national interests 22
of the United States for action or inaction related to a 23
foreign sustainability due diligence regulation. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•S 985 IS
(b) JUDGMENTS FORFOREIGNSUSTAINABILITYDUE 1
D
ILIGENCEREGULATIONS.—No judgment by a foreign 2
court brought against an entity integral to the national 3
interests of the United States in relation to any foreign 4
sustainability due diligence regulation shall be recognized 5
in the courts of the United States or of the States, unless 6
otherwise provided by an Act of Congress. 7
(c) E
NFORCEMENT.— 8
(1) A
CTIONS BY THE PRESIDENT .— 9
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The President shall 10
take any action the President determines is in 11
the public interest to protect an entity integral 12
to the national interests of the United States 13
from an adverse action related to a foreign sus-14
tainability due diligence regulation. 15
(B) D
ETERMINATION OF PUBLIC INTER -16
EST.—In determining under subparagraph (A) 17
whether an action by the President is in the 18
public interest, the President shall take into ac-19
count the impact of the adverse action de-20
scribed in that subparagraph on— 21
(i) consumers and businesses in the 22
United States; 23
(ii) the economic, energy, and environ-24
mental security of the United States; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•S 985 IS
(iii) foreign relations of the United 1
States, including existing international 2
commitments. 3
(2) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Any entity integral to 5
the national interests of the United States ag-6
grieved by a violation of subsection (a) may 7
bring a civil action against the person that vio-8
lated subsection (a) in an appropriate district 9
court of the United States. 10
(B) R
ELIEF.—In a civil action brought 11
under subparagraph (A) in which the plaintiff 12
prevails, the court may award— 13
(i) a writ of mandamus or other equi-14
table or declaratory relief; 15
(ii) punitive damages not to exceed 16
the maximum penalty described in para-17
graph (3)(A); 18
(iii) reasonable attorney fees and liti-19
gation costs; 20
(iv) compensatory damages, including 21
any amount paid by the entity pursuant to 22
the applicable foreign sustainability due 23
diligence regulation; and 24
(v) all other appropriate relief. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•S 985 IS
(3) PENALTIES.—A person that violates sub-1
section (a) or a regulation issued pursuant to this 2
Act— 3
(A) shall be subject to a civil penalty of 4
not more than $1,000,000; and 5
(B) may, at the discretion of the Presi-6
dent, for a period of not longer than 3 years 7
from the date on which the person is found in 8
violation, be deemed ineligible to submit a bid 9
for any Federal award or contract. 10
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 27, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS