International Traffic in Arms Regulations Licensing Reform Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4215 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4215

  To require the Secretary of State to promulgate expedited and fixed 
  timelines for the decision-making process to license the export of 
 certain defense articles and defense services, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 27, 2025

Mr. Baumgartner (for himself, Mr. Zinke, Mr. Lawler, Mr. McCormick, Mr. 
  Moylan, and Mrs. Biggs of South Carolina) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of State to promulgate expedited and fixed 
  timelines for the decision-making process to license the export of 
 certain defense articles and defense services, 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 ``International Traffic in Arms 
Regulations Licensing Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. LIST OF COUNTRIES AND END-USERS TO RECEIVE PRIORITY FOR DIRECT 
              COMMERCIAL SALES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall develop and 
maintain a list of countries and end-users with respect to which 
expedited decision-making for applications for licenses for the export 
of defense articles and defense services is vital to the national 
security of the United States, consistent with the requirements of the 
Arms Export Control Act and other applicable provisions of law.
    (b) Submission to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after the 
development of the list required by subsection (a), and annually 
thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate an updated copy of the list.

SEC. 3. DECISION-MAKING PROCESS FOR APPLICATIONS FOR DIRECT COMMERCIAL 
              SALES.

    Not later than 30 days after the date on which the Secretary of 
State publishes the list required by section 2, the Secretary, in 
coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall initiate a rulemaking 
process to establish an expedited timeline for the decision-making 
process with respect to applications to export defense articles or 
defense services under the Arms Export Control Act to countries or end-
users identified by such list and a fixed timeline for decisions for 
all other applications for such exports. The timelines so established 
shall provide that, to the maximum extent practicable--
            (1) an application to export defense articles or defense 
        services to a listed country or end-user shall be approved, 
        returned, or denied not later than 45 days after the date on 
        which the application is submitted to the Secretary;
            (2) an application to export defense articles or defense 
        services to any country or end-user shall be approved, 
        returned, or denied not later than 60 days after the date on 
        which the application is submitted to the Secretary; and
            (3) the deadlines described in paragraphs (1) and (2) may 
        be suspended with respect to an application if necessary--
                    (A) for applicable time periods specified in 
                subsection (b), (c), or (d) of section 36 of such Act, 
                during which Congress may enact a joint resolution 
                prohibiting the approval of such application; or
                    (B) for such time as may be required to receive a 
                decision from the Secretary of Defense with respect to 
                an application that is subject to approval by the 
                Department of Defense, including technology security 
                and foreign disclosure release determinations.

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall submit to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on a semi-annual basis a 
report, which may be submitted in classified form, that identifies each 
application to export defense articles or defense services during the 
preceding 180-day period with respect to which the time to reach a 
decision exceeded the applicable deadline described in section 3(1) or 
3(2).
    (b) Matter To Be Included.--The report required by this section 
shall also include the following information with respect to each 
application so identified:
            (1) The defense articles or defense services included in 
        the application.
            (2) The recipient country, end-user, and any corporate 
        entities involved in the application.
            (3) Whether the United States has previously exported 
        similar defense articles or defense services to the recipient 
        country or end-user.
            (4) A justification for the delay in reaching a decision 
        with respect to the application.
            (5) The anticipated timeline for reaching a decision with 
        respect to the application, if still pending as of the date of 
        the submission of the report.
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