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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3477 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3477
To exempt humanitarian care packages sent to members of the Armed
Forces stationed overseas from certain postal reporting requirements,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 15, 2025
Mr. Blumenthal introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To exempt humanitarian care packages sent to members of the Armed
Forces stationed overseas from certain postal reporting requirements,
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 ``Support Our Troops Shipping Relief
Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. TREATMENT BY UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE OF HUMANITARIAN CARE
PACKAGES SENT TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES STATIONED
OVERSEAS.
(a) In General.--Chapter 34 of title 39, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after section 3401 the following:
``Sec. 3402. Treatment of humanitarian care packages sent to members of
the Armed Forces stationed overseas
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Armed forces.--The term `Armed Forces' has the
meaning given that term in section 101(a) of title 10.
``(2) Covered shipment.--The term `covered shipment' means
a shipment that--
``(A) is addressed to a military mail address or
other destination authorized by the Secretary of
Defense; and
``(B) consists of one or more humanitarian care
packages.
``(3) Humanitarian care package.--The term `humanitarian
care package' means a parcel containing donated goods intended
solely for the comfort, welfare, or morale of members of the
Armed Forces at duty stations overseas.
``(4) Military mail address.--The term `military mail
address' means an Army Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office
(FPO), or Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) address designated by
the Secretary of Defense for receipt of mail by members of the
Armed Forces stationed overseas.
``(b) Domestic Treatment of Military Mail.--
``(1) In general.--The Postal Service shall treat any
covered shipment as domestic mail for all purposes, regardless
of destination.
``(2) Regulations.--Not later than 30 days after the date
of enactment of the Support Our Troops Shipping Relief Act of
2025, the Postmaster General shall prescribe regulations to
carry out paragraph (1).
``(3) Simplified customs declaration requirement.--In
implementing paragraph (1), to the extent that the Postal
Service requires a customs declaration form for covered
shipments, the Postal Service shall accept a simplified customs
declaration form, which may list categories of contents (such
as `snack foods', `personal hygiene items', `letters and
cards', or similar general descriptions) instead of the
classification under the Harmonized System or country-of-origin
information for each article in the shipment.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for
chapter 34 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following:
``3402. Treatment of humanitarian care packages sent to members of the
Armed Forces stationed overseas.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
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