II 

Calendar No. 564 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 825 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2024 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

To prohibit contracting with persons that have business 

operations with the Maduro regime, 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 ‘‘Banning Operations 

5 and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian 

6 Regime Act’’ or the ‘‘BOLIVAR Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH PERSONS 

8 THAT HAVE BUSINESS OPERATIONS WITH 

9 THE MADURO REGIME. 

10 (a) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in subsections 

11 (b), (c), and (d), the head of an executive agency may not 


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1 enter into a contract for the procurement of goods or serv2 ices with any person that the head of an executive agency 

3 determines, with the concurrence of the Secretary of 

4 State, in consultation with the Director of the Office of 

5 Management and Budget, knowingly engages in signifi6 cant business operations, as defined by the Secretary in 

7 consultation with the Director, with an authority of the 

8 Government of Venezuela that is not recognized as the le9 gitimate Government of Venezuela by the United States. 

10 (b) EXCEPTIONS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The prohibition under sub12 section (a) does not apply to a contract that the Sec13 retary of State, in consultation with the Director of 

14 the Office of Management and Budget, determines— 

15 (A) is necessary— 

16 (i) for purposes of providing humani17 tarian assistance to the people of Ven18 ezuela; 

19 (ii) for purposes of providing disaster 

20 relief and other urgent humanitarian aid 

21 or life-saving measures; or 

22 (iii) to carry out noncombatant evacu23 ations; or 

24 (B) is in the national security interests of 

25 the United States. 


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1 (2) SUPPORT FOR UNITED STATES GOVERN2 MENT ACTIVITIES.—The prohibition in subsection 

3 (a) shall not apply to contracts and agreements that 

4 support United States Government activities in Ven5 ezuela, including those necessary for the mainte6 nance of United States Government facilities in Ven7 ezuela, or to contracts with international organiza8 tions. 

9 (3) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—The Sec10 retary of State shall notify the appropriate congres11 sional committees of any contract entered into on 

12 the basis of an exception provided for under para13 graph (1), which may be submitted in a classified 

14 form, as appropriate. 

15 (c) OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL LI16 CENSES.—The prohibition in subsection (a) does not apply 

17 to a person that has a valid license to operate in Venezuela 

18 issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. 

19 (d) AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN VEN20 EZUELA.—The prohibition in subsection (a) does not 

21 apply to contracts related to the operation and mainte22 nance of the United States Government’s consular offices 

23 and diplomatic posts in Venezuela. 

24 (e) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES.— 

25 The prohibition in subsection (a) does not apply to any 


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1 activity subject to the reporting requirements under title 

2 V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 

3 et seq.), any authorized intelligence activity of the United 

4 States, or any activity or procurement that supports an 

5 authorized intelligence activity. 

6 (f) WAIVER.—The Secretary of State may waive the 

7 requirements of subsection (a) if the Secretary of State 

8 determines that to do so is in the national interest of the 

9 United States. 

10 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT12 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com13 mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu14 rity and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

15 on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Com16 mittee on Homeland Security and the Committee on 

17 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. 

18 (2) BUSINESS OPERATIONS.—The term ‘‘busi19 ness operations’’ means engaging in commerce in 

20 any form, including acquiring, developing, maintain21 ing, owning, selling, possessing, leasing, or operating 

22 equipment, facilities, personnel, products, services, 

23 personal property, real property, or any other appa24 ratus of business or commerce. 


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1 (3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

2 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

3 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

4 (4) GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA.—(A) The 

5 term ‘‘Government of Venezuela’’ includes the gov6 ernment of any political subdivision of Venezuela, 

7 and any agency or instrumentality of the Govern8 ment of Venezuela. 

9 (B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the 

10 term ‘‘agency or instrumentality of the Govern11 ment of Venezuela’’ means an agency or instru12 mentality of a foreign state as defined in sec13 tion 1603(b) of title 28, United States Code, 

14 with each reference in such section to ‘‘a for15 eign state’’ deemed to be a reference to ‘‘Ven16 ezuela’’. 

17 (5) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means— 

18 (A) a natural person, corporation, com19 pany, business association, partnership, society, 

20 trust, or any other nongovernmental entity, or21 ganization, or group; 

22 (B) any governmental entity or instrumen23 tality of a government; and 

24 (C) any successor, subunit, parent entity, 

25 or subsidiary of, or any entity under common 


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1 ownership or control with, any entity described 

2 in subparagraph (A) or (B). 

3 (h) TERM OF APPLICABILITY.—This section shall 

4 apply with respect to any contract entered into during the 

5 three-year period beginning on the date that is 180 days 

6 after the enactment of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
Calendar No. 564 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 825 

AN ACT 

To prohibit contracting with persons that have 

for other purposes. business operations with the Maduro regime, and 

NOVEMBER 19, 2024 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 


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