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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1337 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1337

    To support efforts by the Department of State to strengthen the 
                  bilateral relationship with Greece.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 1, 2011

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Jackson of 
 Illinois, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. Bilirakis, Mrs. Maloney, Ms. Berkley, and 
 Mr. Berman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To support efforts by the Department of State to strengthen the 
                  bilateral relationship with Greece.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The strong bilateral relationship between Greece and 
        the United States was established at the very founding of both 
        countries, and has continued to the present day.
            (2) The founding fathers of the United States, many of whom 
        read Greek political philosophy in its original text, drew 
        heavily on the political experience and philosophy of ancient 
        Greece in forming this country's representative democracy.
            (3) Greek Commander in Chief Petros Mavromichalis, a 
        founder of the modern Greek state, said to the citizens of the 
        United States in 1821 that ``it is in your land that liberty 
        has fixed her abode and . . . in imitating you, we shall 
        imitate our ancestors and be thought worthy of them if we 
        succeed in resembling you''.
            (4) The people of the United States generously offered 
        humanitarian assistance to the Greek people during their 
        struggle for independence, which the Greek citizens finally was 
        achieved on March 25, 1821.
            (5) Greece stood with the United States and Allied forces 
        in World War II, suffering thousands of casualties as they 
        bravely fought to protect freedom and democracy on numerous 
        battlefields, as in the historic Battle of Crete, which was the 
        first major setback for the Axis land war and set off a chain 
        of events that significantly affected the outcome of World War 
        II.
            (6) Throughout the 20th century, Greece continued to be a 
        key support to the United States, and was one of a few 
        countries that allied with the United States in every major 
        international conflict.
            (7) During the war in Iraq, Greece immediately granted 
        unlimited access to its airspace and the base in Souda Bay, and 
        many ships of the United States that delivered troops, cargo, 
        and supplies to Iraq were refueled in Greece.
            (8) Greece shares similar goals with the United States to 
        promote peace and stability in the world, and in that vein has 
        been an active participant in peacekeeping and peace-building 
        operations conducted by international organizations, including 
        the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
        (NATO), the European Union (EU), and the Organization for 
        Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
            (9) In an effort to further strengthen these bonds of 
        friendship and commerce between our countries, Greece was 
        formally included as a full member of the United States Visa 
        Waiver Program on March 9, 2010.
            (10) Achieving greater stability in the Mediterranean 
        region is a key foreign policy goal of the United States, which 
        Greece supports in various ways, including through its historic 
        initiatives for rapprochement with Turkey, through its support 
        for sanctions on Iran, and, most recently, through the 
        significant strengthening of bilateral relations with Israel.
            (11) Greece and the United States are at the forefront of 
        the effort for freedom, democracy, peace, stability, and human 
        rights, and those ideals have forged a close bond between 
        Greece and the United States and their peoples.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the historic strong ties of 
friendship between the United States and Greece, which extend from the 
earliest foundations of the two countries until the present day, have 
been and continue to be invaluable to their growth, prosperity, and 
security.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It shall be the policy of the United States to pursue measures to 
strengthen the important cultural, diplomatic, and economic relations 
between the United States and Greece.
                                 <all>
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