I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5845 
To establish a lending program for Latin America and the Caribbean to 
reaffirm the United States commitment to sustainable and equitable 
growth and energy security in the Western Hemisphere. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 28, 2025 
Mr. ESPAILLAT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To establish a lending program for Latin America and the 
Caribbean to reaffirm the United States commitment 
to sustainable and equitable growth and energy security 
in the Western Hemisphere. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Las Americas Energy 
Security Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE; STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Energy independence and security are crit-
ical for a country to maintain its sovereignty, inde-
pendence, and sustainable economic growth. 
(2) The International Energy Agency (‘‘IEA’’) 
defines energy security as the uninterrupted avail-
ability of energy sources at an affordable price. 
(3) The IEA defines long-term energy security 
as primarily dealing with timely investments to sup-
ply energy in line with economic developments and 
environmental needs. 
(4) The IEA defines short-term energy security 
as focusing on the ability of a country’s energy sys-
tem to react promptly to sudden changes in the sup-
ply-demand balance. 
(5) The IEA’s Executive Director remarked in 
February 2023 that Russia’s February 2022 inva-
sion of Ukraine had sparked an ongoing global en-
ergy crisis with serious implications for international 
energy security. 
(6) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change (IPCC), a United Nations body that pro-
vides regular assessments on global heating, issued 
a synthesis report in March 2023, and found that 
the effects of global temperature changes were ‘‘al-
ready affecting many weather and climate extremes 
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in every region across the globe,’’ which has ‘‘led to 
widespread adverse impacts on food and water secu-
rity, human health and on economies and society 
and related losses and damages to nature and peo-
ple.’’. 
(7) The IPCC notes that to avoid mounting loss 
of life, biodiversity, and infrastructure, we must have 
ambitious, accelerated action to adapt to climate 
change, while also making rapid, deep cuts in green-
house gas emissions. 
(8) The World Meteorological Organization’s 
State of the Climate in Latin America and the Car-
ibbean 2021 report found that— 
(A) widespread drought across Latin 
America and the Caribbean has had significant 
impact on inland shipping routes, crop yields, 
and food production, and consequently led to 
worsening food insecurity; 
(B) extreme weather events affected mil-
lions of people across Central America, exacer-
bating food insecurity in countries already crip-
pled by economic shocks, COVID–19 impacts, 
and conflict; and 
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(C) sea-level rise poses a major risk to low- 
lying coastal zones in Latin America and the 
Caribbean. 
(9) The United Nations states that facilitating 
more reliable and affordable access to clean elec-
tricity helps governments to improve the quality of 
other basic services, such as education and 
healthcare. Electricity access also helps diversify and 
strengthen local economies. Thus, increasing elec-
tricity access could reduce the need to migrate to 
urban areas and other countries. 
(10) Natural disasters of increased frequency 
are projected to increase the displacement of people 
and the United Nations High Commissioner for Ref-
ugees estimates that an annual average of more than 
20 million people have been forcibly displaced by 
weather-related sudden onset hazards every year 
since 2008. 
(11) Rising commodity and energy prices, as 
well as other global economic shocks such as those 
caused by natural disasters, pandemics, and conflict 
pose a serious security risk that may lead to social 
unrest and instability in Latin America and the Car-
ibbean. 
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the United States has economic and national 
security interests in assisting Latin America and the Car-
ibbean to achieve sustainable energy security. 
(c) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 
United States— 
(1) to advance United States foreign policy and 
development goals by helping Latin America and the 
Caribbean meet its short-term energy needs; 
(2) to promote the energy security of Latin 
America and the Caribbean by encouraging the de-
velopment of accessible, transparent, competitive, 
and solvent energy markets and systems that pro-
vide diversified sources, types, and routes of energy, 
as well as by prioritizing clean energy sources that 
reduce carbon emissions and address the ongoing 
global rise in temperatures; 
(3) to encourage United States public and pri-
vate sector investment in Latin American and Carib-
bean energy infrastructure projects to bridge the gap 
between energy security and commercial demand in 
a way that is consistent with the region’s current ab-
sorptive capacity, and that recognizes the impor-
tance of building and widening the absorptive capac-
ity of the region; 
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(4) to help facilitate the export of United States 
energy resources, technology, and expertise to global 
markets in a way that benefits the comprehensive 
energy security of Latin America and the Caribbean; 
and 
(5) to assist partner countries in developing and 
strengthening regulatory and investment frameworks 
that support energy security. 
SEC. 3. SOVEREIGN LENDING PROGRAM FOR ELIGIBLE 
LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN PARTNER 
COUNTRIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 
Treasury, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, 
shall establish a sovereign lending program for eligible 
Latin American and Caribbean partner countries— 
(1) to support their short-term energy needs; 
(2) to fund projects that help them transition 
to renewable or clean energy that reduces carbon 
emissions; 
(3) to fund technical assistance programs that 
ensure that there is a continuous pipeline of clean 
energy projects available for investment from the 
United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean; 
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