PAGER Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9646 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9646

  To prohibit the availability of Federal funds to support the Armed 
               Forces of Lebanon, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2024

  Mr. Steube introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the availability of Federal funds to support the Armed 
               Forces of Lebanon, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Armed Groups from 
Engaging in Radicalism'' or the ``PAGER Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR THE LEBANESE ARMED 
              FORCES.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal funds are 
authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available to the Armed 
Forces of Lebanon until the date on which the Secretary of State 
certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that--
            (1) the Government of Lebanon, including the Chamber of 
        Deputies, no longer recognizes the legitimacy as political 
        parties of, nor permits its ministers or other cabinet-level 
        officials to be from or claim alliance with--
                    (A) Hezbollah;
                    (B) Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc; and
                    (C) Amal;
            (2) Hezbollah no longer maintains any presence in Lebanon 
        pursuant to action of the Lebanese Armed Forces and internal 
        security forces to implement the clauses of United Nations 
        Security Council Resolution 1559 (2004), which calls for the 
        ``disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese 
        militias'';
            (3) such implementation of United Nations Security Council 
        Resolution 1559 includes the expulsion of Hezbollah forces from 
        known strongholds;
            (4) the Lebanese Armed Forces and internal security forces 
        have established an increased presence in areas known to be 
        Hezbollah strongholds in order to prevent a resurgence of 
        Hezbollah;
            (5) the Lebanese Armed Forces do not maintain any 
        coordination or support with Hezbollah or any other group 
        designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist 
        organization that has a presence in Lebanon as of the date of 
        such certification;
            (6) the Lebanese Armed Forces do not maintain any 
        coordination with or receive support from the Government of 
        Iran;
            (7) any military aid previously received from Iran, whether 
        in the form of weapons, ammunition, munitions, or equipment, is 
        destroyed or disarmed; and
            (8) Lebanese courts and military tribunals under the 
        jurisdiction of the Lebanese Armed Forces dismiss all charges 
        and arrest warrants against American citizens who have 
        advocated against Hezbollah's influence over the Government of 
        Lebanon, including American journalists who have appeared on 
        Israeli news media or invited Israeli guests on their media 
        programs.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON UNITED STATES SUPPORT TO THE UNITED NATIONS 
              DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME.

    No Federal funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made 
available to the United Nations Development Programme may be obligated 
or expended to support any livelihood support programs making 
assistance available to members of the Lebanese armed forces or the 
Lebanese internal security forces.

SEC. 4. REPORT.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, and every 180 days thereafter, the Secretary of State, in 
consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of the 
Central Intelligence Agency, shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report on the influences of Hezbollah and 
the Government of Iran throughout the Government of Lebanon, including 
the Lebanese Ministry of Defense.

SEC. 5. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
        Armed Services of the House of Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
        Armed Services of the Senate.
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