I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6049 

To award payments to employees of Air America who provided support to 

the United States from 1950 to 1976, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Mr. GROTHMAN (for himself, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

WALTZ, Mr. TRONE, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. TIFFANY, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 

Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. 

VALADAO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. TENNEY, 

Mr. BOST, Mr. COSTA, Ms. TITUS, Ms. LEE of Nevada, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. 

GIMENEZ, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. NADLER, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. 

MOOLENAAR, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. KILMER, Ms. BROWNLEY, 

and Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

A BILL 

To award payments to employees of Air America who provided support to the United States from 1950 to 1976, 

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 ‘‘Air America Act of 

5 2023’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Air America and its affiliated companies, in 

4 coordination with the Central Intelligence Agency, 

5 provided direct and indirect support to the United 

6 States Government from 1950 to 1976. 

7 (2) The service and sacrifice of employees of 

8 Air America included— 

9 (A) suffering a high rate of casualties in 

10 the course of service; 

11 (B) saving thousands of lives in search and 

12 rescue missions for downed United States air13 men and allied refugee evacuations; and 

14 (C) serving lengthy periods under chal15 lenging circumstances abroad. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) AFFILIATED COMPANY.—The term ‘‘affili19 ated company’’, with respect to Air America, in20 cludes Air Asia Company Limited, CAT Incor21 porated, Civil Air Transport Company Limited, and 

22 the Pacific Division of Southern Air Transport. 

23 (2) AIR AMERICA.—The term ‘‘Air America’’ 

24 means Air America, Incorporated. 

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1 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

5 and Governmental Affairs, the Select Com6 mittee on Intelligence, and the Committee on 

7 Appropriations of the Senate; and 

8 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Ac9 countability, the Permanent Select Committee 

10 on Intelligence, and the Committee on Appro11 priations of the House of Representatives. 

12 (4) CHILD; DEPENDENT; WIDOW; WIDOWER.— 

13 The terms ‘‘child’’, ‘‘dependent’’, ‘‘widow’’, and 

14 ‘‘widower’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

15 section 8341(a) of title 5, United States Code, ex16 cept that section shall be applied by substituting 

17 ‘‘individual who performed qualifying service’’ for 

18 ‘‘employee or Member’’. 

19 (5) COVERED DECEDENT.—The term ‘‘covered 

20 decedent’’ means an individual who was killed in 

21 Southeast Asia while supporting operations of the 

22 Central Intelligence Agency during the period begin23 ning on January 1, 1950, and ending on December 

24 31, 1976, as a United States citizen employee of Air 

25 America or an affiliated company. 

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1 (6) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. 

3 (7) QUALIFYING SERVICE.—The term ‘‘quali4 fying service’’ means service that— 

5 (A) was performed by a United States cit6 izen as an employee of Air America or an affili7 ated company during the period beginning on 

8 January 1, 1950, and ending on December 31, 

9 1976; and 

10 (B) is documented in— 

11 (i) the corporate records of Air Amer12 ica or an affiliated company; 

13 (ii) records possessed by the United 

14 States Government; or 

15 (iii) the personal records of a former 

16 employee of Air America or an affiliated 

17 company that are verified by the United 

18 States Government. 

19 (8) SURVIVOR.—The term ‘‘survivor’’means— 

20 (A) the widow or widower of— 

21 (i) an individual who performed quali22 fying service; or 

23 (ii) a covered decedent; or 

24 (B) an individual who, at any time during 

25 or since the period of qualifying service, or on 

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1 the date of death of a covered decedent, was a 

2 dependent or child of— 

3 (i) the individual who performed such 

4 qualifying service; or 

5 (ii) the covered decedent. 

6 SEC. 4. AWARD AUTHORIZED TO ELIGIBLE PERSONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the limitation in sub8 section (d), the Director shall provide an award payment 

9 of $40,000 under this section— 

10 (1) to an individual who performed qualifying 

11 service for a period of greater than or equal to 5 

12 years or to a survivor of such individual; or 

13 (2) to the survivor of a covered decedent. 

14 (b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for a payment 

16 under this subsection, an individual who performed 

17 qualifying service or survivor (as the case may be) 

18 must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Director 

19 that the individual whose qualifying service upon 

20 which the payment is based meets the criteria of 

21 paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a). 

22 (2) RELIANCE ON RECORDS.—In carrying out 

23 this subsection, in addition to any evidence provided 

24 by such an individual or survivor, the Director may 

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1 rely on records possessed by the United States Gov2 ernment. 

3 (c) ADDITIONAL PAYMENT.—If an individual, or in 

4 the case of a survivor, the individual whose qualifying 

5 service upon which the payment is based, can demonstrate 

6 to the Director that the qualifying service of the individual 

7 exceeded 5 years, the Director shall pay to such individual 

8 or survivor an additional $8,000 for each full year in ex9 cess of 5 years (and a proportionate amount for a partial 

10 year). 

11 (d) SURVIVORS.—In the case of an award granted to 

12 a survivor under this section, the payment shall be made— 

13 (1) to the surviving widow or widower; or 

14 (2) if there is no surviving widow or widower, 

15 to the surviving dependent or child, in equal shares. 

16 SEC. 5. FUNDING LIMITATION. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The total amount of awards 

18 granted under this Act may not exceed $60,000,000. 

19 (b) REQUESTS FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—If, at the 

20 determination of the Director, the amount of funds re21 quired to satisfy all valid applications for payment under 

22 this Act exceeds the limitation set forth in subsection (a), 

23 the Director shall submit to Congress a request for suffi24 cient funds to fulfill all remaining payments. 

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1 (c) AWARDS TO EMPLOYEES OF INTERMOUNTAIN

2 AVIATION.—The Director may determine, on a case-by3 case basis, to award amounts to individuals who performed 

4 service consistent with the definition of qualifying service 

5 as employees of Intermountain Aviation. 

6 SEC. 6. TIME LIMITATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for an award pay8 ment under this Act, a claimant must file a claim for such 

9 payment with the Director not later than 2 years after 

10 the effective date of the regulations prescribed by the Di11 rector in accordance with section 7. 

12 (b) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 90 days after 

13 receiving a claim for an award payment under this section, 

14 the Director shall determine the eligibility of the claimant 

15 for payment. 

16 (c) PAYMENT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the Director determines 

18 that the claimant is eligible for the award payment, 

19 the Director shall pay the award payment not later 

20 than 60 days after the date of such determination. 

21 (2) LUMP-SUM PAYMENT.—The Director shall 

22 issue each payment as a one-time lump sum pay23 ment contingent upon the timely filing of the claim24 ant under this section. 

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1 (3) NOTICE AND DELAYS.—The Director shall 

2 notify the appropriate congressional committees of 

3 any delays in making an award payment not later 

4 than 30 days after the date such payment is due. 

5 SEC. 7. APPLICATION PROCEDURES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall prescribe pro7 cedures to carry out this Act, which shall include processes 

8 under which— 

9 (1) claimants may submit claims for payment 

10 under this Act; 

11 (2) the Director will award the amounts under 

12 section 4; and 

13 (3) claimants can obtain redress and appeal de14 terminations under section 6. 

15 (b) OTHER MATTERS.—Such procedures— 

16 (1) shall be— 

17 (A) prescribed not later than 60 days after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

19 (B) published in the Code of Federal Reg20 ulations; and 

21 (2) shall not be subject to chapter 5 of title 5, 

22 United States Code. 

23 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

24 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to— 

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1 (1) entitle any person to Federal benefits, in2 cluding retirement benefits under chapter 83 or 84 

3 of title 5, United States Code, and disability or 

4 death benefits under chapter 81 of such title; 

5 (2) change the legal status of the former Air 

6 America corporation or any affiliated company; or 

7 (3) create any legal rights, benefits, or entitle8 ments beyond the one-time award authorized by this 

9 Act. 

10 SEC. 9. ATTORNEYS’ AND AGENTS’ FEES. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for more than 

12 25 percent of an award paid pursuant to this Act to be 

13 paid to, or received by, any agent or attorney for any serv14 ice rendered to a person who receives an award under sec15 tion 4, in connection with the award under this Act. 

16 (b) VIOLATION.—Any agent or attorney who violates 

17 subsection (a) shall be fined under title 18, United States 

18 Code. 

19 SEC. 10. NO JUDICIAL REVIEW. 

20 A determination by the Director pursuant to this Act 

21 is final and conclusive and shall not be subject to judicial 

22 review. 

23 SEC. 11. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

24 Until the date that all funds available for awards 

25 under this Act are expended, the Director shall submit to 

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1 the appropriate congressional committees a semiannual re2 port describing the numbers of award payments made and 

3 denied during the 180 days preceding the submission of 

4 the report, including the rationales for any denials, and 

5 if, at the determination of the Director, the amount of 

6 funds provided to carry out this Act are insufficient to 

7 satisfy any remaining or anticipated claims. 

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