I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4570 
To authorize assistance to support activities relating to the clearance of 
landmines, unexploded ordnance, and other explosive remnants of war 
in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, and to recognize the refugee and 
immigrant communities who supported and defended the Armed Forces 
during the conflict in Southeast Asia, including Hmong, Cham, Cam-
bodian, Iu-Mien, Khmu, Lao, Montagnard, and Vietnamese Americans, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 12, 2023 
Mr. BERA (for himself, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Ms. HOULAHAN, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. LAR-
SEN of Washington, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. KILDEE, 
Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. KILMER, Ms. TITUS, Mr. 
HIMES, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CARSON, and Mr. TRONE) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To authorize assistance to support activities relating to the 
clearance of landmines, unexploded ordnance, and other 
explosive remnants of war in Cambodia, Laos, and Viet-
nam, and to recognize the refugee and immigrant com-
munities who supported and defended the Armed Forces 
during the conflict in Southeast Asia, including Hmong, 
Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, Khmu, Lao, Montagnard, 
and Vietnamese Americans, and for other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Legacies of War Rec-
ognition and Unexploded Ordnance Removal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. RECOGNITION OF THE COMMUNITIES WHO SUP-
PORTED 
AND 
DEFENDED 
THE 
ARMED 
FORCES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) During the conflict in Southeast Asia dur-
ing the 1960s and 1970s, many Hmong, Cham, 
Cambodians, Iu-Mien, Khmu, Lao, Montagnard, and 
Vietnamese people— 
(A) supported the Armed Forces; 
(B) rescued United States pilots shot down 
in enemy-controlled territory and returned the 
pilots to safety; 
(C) gathered and provided intelligence to 
the Armed Forces about enemy troop positions, 
movement, and strength; and 
(D) provided food, shelter, and support to 
members of the Armed Forces. 
(2) The national armed forces of Cambodia fa-
cilitated the evacuation of the United States Em-
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bassy in Phnom Penh on April 12, 1975, by fighting 
Khmer Rouge forces that advanced upon the capital. 
(3) A tragic legacy of the conflict in Southeast 
Asia is the lethal risk posed by landmines, 
unexploded ordnance (in this Act, referred to as 
‘‘UXO’’), and explosive remnants of war in Vietnam, 
Laos, and Cambodia that still litter forests, rice 
fields, villages, school grounds, roads, and other pop-
ulated areas, hindering development and efforts to 
reduce poverty. 
(4) Vietnam remains one of the world’s most 
contaminated countries, with an estimated 800,000 
tons of UXO left over from the conflict in Southeast 
Asia that ended more than 40 years ago. Since 
1975, UXO accidents have caused more than 
105,000 casualties, including more than 38,000 
deaths of Vietnamese civilians. 
(5) In Laos, much of the country’s land re-
mains contaminated with tens of millions of small, 
unexploded cluster munitions. Since 1964, UXO and 
other explosive remnants of war have injured or 
killed more than 50,000 civilians in Laos. 
(6) Cambodia has experienced one of the high-
est rates of landmine and UXO casualties in the 
world. Over 64,000 Cambodians have been injured 
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or killed by landmines, UXO, or other explosive rem-
nants of war since 1979. 
(7) The United States is the world’s leading fi-
nancial supporter of demining and programs to re-
move UXO. Since 1993, the United States has pro-
vided more than $4,200,000,000 in assistance for lo-
cating and destroying UXO and other explosive rem-
nants of war and related programs in more than 100 
countries, including more than $185,000,000 in 
Vietnam, $310,000,000 in Laos, and $180,000,000 
in Cambodia. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) the Hmong, Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, 
Khmu, Lao, Montagnard, and Vietnamese people de-
serve recognition for their support and defense of 
the Armed Forces during the conflict in Southeast 
Asia; and 
(2) the United States should continue to sup-
port activities to clear landmines, UXO, and other 
explosive remnants of war and to provide related as-
sistance in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, while 
strengthening people-to-people ties and reaffirming 
the long-standing commitment of the United States 
to Southeast Asia. 
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SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE FOR VIETNAM, 
LAOS, AND CAMBODIA. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President may provide hu-
manitarian assistance to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia 
for programs to support the following: 
(1) The development or updating of national 
surveys of landmines, UXO, and other explosive 
remnants of war. 
(2) Clearance of such landmines, UXO, and 
other explosive remnants of war. 
(3) Stockpile management of small arms, light 
weapons, and ammunition. 
(4) Capacity building, risk education, destruc-
tion, and physical security related to landmines, 
UXO, and other explosive remnants of war. 
(5) Survivors of incidents involving landmines, 
UXO, and other explosive remnants of war, includ-
ing by providing medical assistance and prosthetic 
devices related to landmines, UXO, and other explo-
sive remnants of war. 
(b) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 
President shall seek to consult, partner, and coordinate 
with international organizations, civil societies, donor gov-
ernments, and other stakeholders, as the President deter-
mines appropriate, to leverage the expertise, financial sup-
port, and resources of such entities to minimize duplica-
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clearance efforts in Vietnam, Laos, and Cam-
bodia; 
(C) estimates of contaminated land that 
has been cleared, land that still contains land-
mines, UXO, and other explosive remnants of 
war, land that has not been assessed for con-
tamination, and data on the origin of any anti-
personnel mines cleared, to the extent possible; 
(D) a description of collaboration between 
the United States and the governments of Viet-
nam, Laos, and Cambodia including past and 
current progress to date in establishing nation-
wide contamination databases in such countries 
to refine landmine, UXO, and other explosive 
remnants of war locations and target clearance 
efforts; and 
(E) an assessment on the efforts of the 
Department of State to work with the Govern-
ment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic 
regarding the repatriation of and the efforts to 
reintegrate into Laotian society those of 
Hmonh, Lao, Khmu, and Mien or Yao descent 
who arrived in the United States as refugees 
but have since been removed. 
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(2) BRIEFINGS.—The President shall annually 
brief the appropriate committees of Congress on ac-
tivities undertaken in accordance with this section 
for each year for which amounts are authorized 
under subsection (d). 
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized 
to 
be 
appropriated 
to 
the 
President 
$100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024 through 
2028 to carry out this section. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-
gress’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on Armed Services, and the Com-
mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
the Committee on Armed Services, and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 
(2) The term ‘‘unexploded ordnance’’ or 
‘‘UXO’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
101 of title 10, United States Code. 
Æ 
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