I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7703 

To authorize appropriations for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, enhance the United States-Caribbean security partnership, prioritize disaster resilience, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2020 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself and Mr. ROONEY of Florida) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize appropriations for the Caribbean Basin Security 

Initiative, enhance the United States-Caribbean security 

partnership, prioritize disaster resilience, 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 ‘‘Caribbean Basin Secu5 rity Initiative Authorization Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE 

2 CARIBBEAN BASIN SECURITY INITIATIVE. 

3 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap4 propriated at least $74,800,000 for each of fiscal years 

5 2021 through 2025, to be derived from amounts author6 ized to be appropriated under the following provisions of 

7 law, to carry out the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative 

8 to achieve the purposes described in subsection (b): 

9 (1) With respect to the Foreign Assistance Act 

10 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.)— 

11 (A) chapter 8 of part I (relating to inter12 national narcotics control and law enforcement 

13 assistance); 

14 (B) chapter 4 of part I (relating to the 

15 economic support fund); 

16 (C) chapters 8 and 9 of part I (relating to 

17 anti-terrorism assistance and demining activi18 ties) and any other authorization under this Act 

19 or any other Act to carry out programs, 

20 projects, or activities using amounts made 

21 available under for the ‘‘International Security 

22 Assistance—Department of State—Non23 proliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining, and 

24 Related Programs’’ account; and 


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1 (D) sections 103, 105, 106, and 214, sec2 tions 251 through 255, and chapter 10 of part 

3 I (relating to development assistance). 

4 (2) Section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act 

5 (relating to foreign military financing; 22 U.S.C. 

6 2763). 

7 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes described in this sub8 section are the following: 

9 (1) To promote citizen safety, security, and the 

10 rule of law in the Caribbean through increased stra11 tegic engagement with the governments of bene12 ficiary countries and with elements of local civil soci13 ety, including the private sector, in such countries. 

14 (2) To carry out the promotion of such safety, 

15 security, and the rule of law through efforts includ16 ing the following: 

17 (A) Capacity building for law enforcement 

18 and military units, including professionalization, 

19 anti-corruption and human rights training, vet20 ting, and community-based policing. 

21 (B) Maritime and aerial security coopera22 tion, including assistance to strengthen Carib23 bean maritime and aerial interdiction oper24 ations capability and the provision of support 


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1 systems and equipment, training, and mainte2 nance. 

3 (C) Border and port security cooperation, 

4 including support to strengthen capacity for 

5 screening and to intercept narcotics, weapons, 

6 bulk cash, and other contraband at airports and 

7 seaports. 

8 (D) Support for justice sector reform and 

9 strengthening of the rule of law, including ca10 pacity building for prosecutors, judges, and 

11 other justice officials, and support to increase 

12 the efficacy of criminal courts. 

13 (E) Cybersecurity and cybercrime coopera14 tion, including capacity-building and support 

15 for cybersecurity systems. 

16 (F) Countering transnational criminal or17 ganizations and local gang activity, including 

18 capacity-building, equipment, and support for 

19 operations targeting the finances and illegal ac20 tivities of transnational criminal networks and 

21 local gangs such as their recruitment of at-risk 

22 youth, and the provision of assistance to popu23 lations vulnerable to being victims of extortion 

24 and crime by criminal networks. 


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1 (G) Strengthening special prosecutorial of2 fices and providing technical assistance to com3 bat corruption, money laundering, financial 

4 crimes, extortion, and human rights crimes, and 

5 conduct asset forfeitures and criminal analysis. 

6 (H) Strengthening the ability of the secu7 rity sector to respond to and become more resil8 ient in the face of natural disasters, including 

9 by carrying out training exercises to ensure 

10 critical infrastructure and ports are able to 

11 come back online rapidly following disasters and 

12 providing preparedness training to police and 

13 first responders. 

14 (I) Supporting training for civilian police 

15 and appropriate security services in criminal in16 vestigations, best practices for citizen security, 

17 and the protection of human rights. 

18 (J) Improving community and law enforce19 ment cooperation to improve effectiveness and 

20 professionalism of police and increase mutual 

21 trust. 

22 (K) Increasing economic opportunities for 

23 at-risk youth and vulnerable populations, in24 cluding workforce development training and re25 medial education programs for at-risk youth. 


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1 (L) Improving juvenile justice sectors 

2 through regulatory reforms, separating youth 

3 from traditional prison systems, and improving 

4 support and services in juvenile detention cen5 ters. 

6 (3) To prioritize efforts to combat corruption 

7 and include anti-corruption components to programs, 

8 including by— 

9 (A) strengthening national justice systems 

10 and attorneys general and supporting inde11 pendent media and investigative reporting; 

12 (B) supporting multilateral anti-corruption 

13 mechanisms; and 

14 (C) encouraging cooperative agreements 

15 between the Department of State, other rel16 evant Federal departments and agencies, and 

17 the attorneys general of relevant countries to 

18 fight corruption in the Caribbean. 

19 (4) To promote the rule of law in the Caribbean 

20 and counter malign influence from authoritarian re21 gimes, including China and Russia, by: 

22 (A) Monitoring security assistance from 

23 authoritarian regimes and taking steps nec24 essary to ensure that this assistance does not 


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1 undermine or jeopardize U.S. security assist2 ance. 

3 (B) Evaluating and, as appropriate, re4 stricting United States involvement in invest5 ment and infrastructure projects financed by 

6 authoritarian regimes that might obstruct or 

7 otherwise impact United States security assist8 ance to beneficiary countries. 

9 (C) Monitoring and restricting equipment 

10 and support from high risk vendors for tele11 communications infrastructure in beneficiary 

12 countries. 

13 (D) Countering disinformation by pro14 moting transparency and accountability from 

15 beneficiary countries. 

16 (E) Eliminating corruption linked to in17 vestment and infrastructure facilitated by au18 thoritarian regimes through support for invest19 ment screening, competitive tendering and bid20 ding processes, the implementation of invest21 ment law, and contractual transparency. 

22 (5) To promote strategic engagement with the 

23 governments of beneficiary countries through effec24 tive branding and messaging of United States assist25 ance and security cooperation, including by develVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:08 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.IH H7703

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1 oping a public diplomacy strategy for educating citi2 zens of beneficiary countries about United States as3 sistance and security cooperation programs and ben4 efits. 

5 SEC. 3. STRATEGY TO IMPROVE DISASTER RESILIENCE. 

6 (a) PRIORITIZATION.—During the 5-year period be7 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec8 retary of State shall, in consultation with the Adminis9 trator of the United States Agency for International De10 velopment and the President and Chief Executive Officer 

11 of the Inter-American Foundation, prioritize efforts to in12 crease disaster response and resilience by carrying out 

13 programs in beneficiary countries for the following pur14 poses: 

15 (1) Encouraging coordination between bene16 ficiary countries and relevant Federal departments 

17 and agencies to provide expertise and information 

18 sharing. 

19 (2) Supporting sharing of best practices on dis20 aster resilience including constructing resilient infra21 structure and rebuilding after natural disasters. 

22 (3) Improving rapid-response mechanisms and 

23 cross-government organizational preparedness for 

24 natural disasters. 


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1 (b) STRATEGY.—Not later than 180 days after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

3 shall, in coordination with the Administrator of the United 

4 States Agency for International Development and in con5 sultation with the President and Chief Economic Officer 

6 of the Inter-American Foundation, submit to the appro7 priate congressional committees a strategy that incor8 porates specific, measurable benchmarks to achieve the 

9 purposes described in subsection (a) and to inform citizens 

10 of beneficiary countries about the extent and benefits of 

11 United States assistance to such countries. In developing 

12 such strategy, the Secretary of State shall also consult 

13 with nongovernmental organizations in beneficiary coun14 tries and in the United States. 

15 (c) ANNUAL PROGRESS UPDATE.—The Secretary, in 

16 coordination with the Administrator, shall annually submit 

17 to the appropriate congressional committees a written de18 scription of the progress made as of the date of such sub19 mission in meeting the benchmarks included in the strat20 egy submitted pursuant to subsection (b). 

21 SEC. 4. MONITORING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

22 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination 

24 with the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

25 International Development, shall submit to the approVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:08 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.IH H7703

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1 priate congressional committees an implementation plan 

2 that includes a timeline and stated objectives for actions 

3 to be taken with respect to the Caribbean Basin Security 

4 Initiative. The plan shall also include the following ele5 ments: 

6 (1) A multi-year strategy with a timeline, over7 view of objectives, and anticipated outcomes for the 

8 region and for each beneficiary country, with respect 

9 to each program area described in section 2. 

10 (2) Specific, measurable benchmarks to track 

11 the progress of the Initiative towards accomplishing 

12 the outcomes described pursuant to paragraph (1). 

13 (3) A plan for the delineation of the roles to be 

14 carried out by the Department of State, the United 

15 States Agency for International Development, the 

16 Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, 

17 and any other Federal department or agency in car18 rying out the Initiative, to prevent overlap and unin19 tended competition between activities and resources. 

20 (4) A plan to coordinate and track all activities 

21 carried out under the Initiative between all relevant 

22 Federal departments and agencies, in accordance 

23 with the publication requirements described in sec24 tion 4 of the Foreign Aid Transparency and AcVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:08 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7703.IH H7703

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1 countability Act of 2016 (Public Law 114–191; 22 

2 U.S.C. 2394c). 

3 (5) The results achieved during the previous 

4 year— 

5 (A) of monitoring and evaluation measures 

6 to track the progress of the Initiative in accom7 plishing the benchmarks included pursuant to 

8 paragraph (2); and 

9 (B) of the implementation of the strategy 

10 and plans described in paragraphs (1), (3), and 

11 (4). 

12 (6) A description of the process for co-locating 

13 Caribbean Basin Security Initiative projects funded 

14 by the United States Agency for International De15 velopment and the Bureau of International Nar16 cotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the Depart17 ment of State, to ensure that crime prevention fund18 ing and enforcement funding are used in the same 

19 localities as necessary. 

20 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

2 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

3 of Representatives; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

5 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 Senate. 

7 (2) BENEFICIARY COUNTRIES.—The term ‘‘ben8 eficiary countries’’ means the beneficiary countries 

9 of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. 

Æ 


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