H. R. 2444 

One Hundred Sixteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty 

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. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eastern European Security 

Act’’. 

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

interest of the United States to— 

(1) deter aggression against North Atlantic Treaty 

Organization (NATO) allies by Russia or any other adversary; 

(2) assist NATO allies in acquiring and deploying modern, 

NATO interoperable military equipment and reducing their 

dependence on Russian or former Soviet-era defense articles; 

(3) ensure that NATO allies meet alliance defense commitments, including through adequate investments in national 

defense; 

(4) supplement existing grant assistance to key allies 

through foreign military financing loans, at rates competitive 

with those already available on commercial markets, to purchase NATO-interoperable military equipment; and 

(5) work to maintain and strengthen the democratic institutions and practices of all NATO allies, in accordance with 

the goals of Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty. 

SEC. 3. FOREIGN MILITARY LOAN AUTHORITY. 

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

the notification requirements under subsection (b) and to the availability of appropriations, the President, acting through the Secretary of State, is authorized— 

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

Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2763) to NATO member countries 

that joined the alliance after March 1, 1999, notwithstanding 

the minimum interest rate required by subsection (c)(1) of 

such section; and 

(2) to charge fees for such loans under paragraph (1), 

which shall be collected from borrowers in accordance with 

section 502(7) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and 

which may be used to cover the costs of such loans as defined 

in section 502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 
H. R. 2444—2 

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

provided by subsection (a) unless the Secretary of State submits 

to the appropriate congressional committees a certification, not 

fewer than fifteen days before entering into an agreement to make 

such loan, that— 

(1) the recipient country is making demonstrable progress 

toward meeting its defense spending commitments in accordance with the 2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration; and 

(2) the government of such recipient country is respecting 

that country’s constitution and upholds democratic values such 

as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, 

the rule of law, and the rights of religious minorities. 

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

by subsection (a) shall be repaid in not more than 12 years, but 

may include a grace period of up to 1 year on the repayment 

of the principal. 

(d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.—In 

this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means— 

(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee 

on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and 

(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee 

on Appropriations of the Senate. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.