I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2444 
To authorize the Secretary of State to make direct loans under section 
23 of the Arms Export Control Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2019 
Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eastern European Se-
curity Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that it is in the national 
security interest of the United States for member coun-
tries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 
that were formerly part of the Soviet Eastern Bloc— 
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(1) to have modern and effective defense arti-
cles that are in use and easily integrated with those 
used by the United States and other NATO allies; 
and 
(2) not use or be dependent on Russian or 
former Soviet-era defense articles. 
SEC. 3. FOREIGN MILITARY LOAN AUTHORITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the notification re-
quirements under subsection (b), 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 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 para-
graph (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. 
(b) NOTIFICATION.—A loan may not be made under 
the authority provided by subsection (a) unless the Sec-
retary of State submits to the appropriate congressional 
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committees a certification, not fewer than fifteen days be-
fore entering into an agreement to make such loan, that— 
(1) the recipient country is making demon-
strable progress toward meeting its spending obliga-
tions in accordance with the 2014 NATO Wales 
Summit; and 
(2) the government of such recipient country is 
respecting that country’s constitution and upholds 
democratic values such as freedom of religion, free-
dom 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 one 
year on the repayment of the principal. 
(d) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMITTEES 
DEFINED.—In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-
sional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 
Æ 
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