IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2444 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To authorize the Secretary of State to make direct loans 

under section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eastern European Se3 curity Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that it is in the national 

6 security interest of the United States to— 

7 (1) deter aggression against North Atlantic 

8 Treaty Organization (NATO) allies by Russia or any 

9 other adversary; 

10 (2) assist NATO allies in acquiring and deploy11 ing modern, NATO interoperable military equipment 

12 and reducing their dependence on Russian or former 

13 Soviet-era defense articles; 

14 (3) ensure that NATO allies meet alliance de15 fense commitments, including through adequate in16 vestments in national defense; 

17 (4) supplement existing grant assistance to key 

18 allies through foreign military financing loans, at 

19 rates competitive with those already available on 

20 commercial markets, to purchase NATO-interoper21 able military equipment; and 

22 (5) work to maintain and strengthen the demo23 cratic institutions and practices of all NATO allies, 

24 in accordance with the goals of Article 2 of the 

25 North Atlantic Treaty. 


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1 SEC. 3. FOREIGN MILITARY LOAN AUTHORITY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 2021, 

3 subject to the notification requirements under subsection 

4 (b) and to the availability of appropriations, the President, 

5 acting through the Secretary of State, is authorized— 

6 (1) to make direct loans under section 23 of the 

7 Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2763) to 

8 NATO member countries that joined the alliance 

9 after March 1, 1999, notwithstanding the minimum 

10 interest rate required by subsection (c)(1) of such 

11 section; and 

12 (2) to charge fees for such loans under para13 graph (1), which shall be collected from borrowers in 

14 accordance with section 502(7) of the Congressional 

15 Budget Act of 1974, and which may be used to 

16 cover the costs of such loans as defined in section 

17 502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

18 (b) NOTIFICATION.—A loan may not be made under 

19 the authority provided by subsection (a) unless the Sec20 retary of State submits to the appropriate congressional 

21 committees a certification, not fewer than fifteen days be22 fore entering into an agreement to make such loan, that— 

23 (1) the recipient country is making demon24 strable progress toward meeting its defense spending 

25 commitments in accordance with the 2014 NATO 

26 Wales Summit Declaration; and 


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1 (2) the government of such recipient country is 

2 respecting that country’s constitution and upholds 

3 democratic values such as freedom of religion, free4 dom of speech, freedom of the press, the rule of law, 

5 and the rights of religious minorities. 

6 (c) REPAYMENT.—A loan made under the authority 

7 provided by subsection (a) shall be repaid in not more than 

8 12 years, but may include a grace period of up to 1 year 

9 on the repayment of the principal. 

10 (d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

11 DEFINED.—In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congres12 sional committees’’ means— 

13 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

14 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep15 resentatives; and 

16 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

17 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 9, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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