I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Armed 

5 Groups from Engaging in Radicalism’’ or the ‘‘PAGER 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR 

8 THE LEBANESE ARMED FORCES. 

9 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Fed10 eral funds are authorized to be appropriated or otherwise 


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1 made available to the Armed Forces of Lebanon until the 

2 date on which the Secretary of State certifies to the appro3 priate congressional committees that— 

4 (1) the Government of Lebanon, including the 

5 Chamber of Deputies, no longer recognizes the legit6 imacy as political parties of, nor permits its min7 isters or other cabinet-level officials to be from or 

8 claim alliance with— 

9 (A) Hezbollah; 

10 (B) Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc; and 

11 (C) Amal; 

12 (2) Hezbollah no longer maintains any presence 

13 in Lebanon pursuant to action of the Lebanese 

14 Armed Forces and internal security forces to imple15 ment the clauses of United Nations Security Council 

16 Resolution 1559 (2004), which calls for the ‘‘dis17 banding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non18 Lebanese militias’’; 

19 (3) such implementation of United Nations Se20 curity Council Resolution 1559 includes the expul21 sion of Hezbollah forces from known strongholds; 

22 (4) the Lebanese Armed Forces and internal se23 curity forces have established an increased presence 

24 in areas known to be Hezbollah strongholds in order 

25 to prevent a resurgence of Hezbollah; 


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1 (5) the Lebanese Armed Forces do not main2 tain any coordination or support with Hezbollah or 

3 any other group designated by the United States as 

4 a foreign terrorist organization that has a presence 

5 in Lebanon as of the date of such certification; 

6 (6) the Lebanese Armed Forces do not main7 tain any coordination with or receive support from 

8 the Government of Iran; 

9 (7) any military aid previously received from 

10 Iran, whether in the form of weapons, ammunition, 

11 munitions, or equipment, is destroyed or disarmed; 

12 and 

13 (8) Lebanese courts and military tribunals 

14 under the jurisdiction of the Lebanese Armed Forces 

15 dismiss all charges and arrest warrants against 

16 American citizens who have advocated against 

17 Hezbollah’s influence over the Government of Leb18 anon, including American journalists who have ap19 peared on Israeli news media or invited Israeli 

20 guests on their media programs. 

21 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON UNITED STATES SUPPORT TO THE 

22 UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PRO23 GRAMME. 

24 No Federal funds authorized to be appropriated or 

25 otherwise made available to the United Nations DevelopVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:02 Oct 11, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9646.IH H9646

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1 ment Programme may be obligated or expended to support 

2 any livelihood support programs making assistance avail3 able to members of the Lebanese armed forces or the Leb4 anese internal security forces. 

5 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

6 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter, the Sec8 retary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of De9 fense and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 

10 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

11 a report on the influences of Hezbollah and the Govern12 ment of Iran throughout the Government of Lebanon, in13 cluding the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. 

14 SEC. 5. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE15 FINED. 

16 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com17 mittees’’ means— 

18 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

19 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep20 resentatives; and 

21 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

22 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate. 

Æ 


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