IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1132 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that to promote global 
religious freedom and freedom of expression, United States foreign aid 
should not be directed to countries that enforce blasphemy laws. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 23, 2018 
Mr. FRANCIS ROONEY of Florida submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
to promote global religious freedom and freedom of ex-
pression, United States foreign aid should not be directed 
to countries that enforce blasphemy laws. 
Whereas the founding principles of the United States include 
the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression; 
Whereas the United States, in its support of and membership 
in the United Nations and other international institu-
tions, has been party to the promotion and sustainment 
of global religious freedom; 
Whereas the United States established the United States 
Commission on International Religious Freedom (in this 
resolution referred to as ‘‘USCIRF’’) to defend the uni-
versal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad; 
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Whereas the USCIRF has identified 71 foreign countries 
with active blasphemy laws as of 2017; 
Whereas the United States continues to deliver significant 
sums of foreign aid to countries with actively enforced 
blasphemy laws; 
Whereas the Department of State in 2006 created a frame-
work to organize United States foreign aid around stra-
tegic objectives that include, among others, governing 
justly and democratically, humanitarian assistance, and 
investing in people; 
Whereas sending foreign aid to countries with, and that en-
force, blasphemy laws does not support the strategic ob-
jectives of foreign aid laid out by the Department of 
State; 
Whereas before suspending a significant amount of foreign 
aid to Pakistan in 2018, the United States provided 
Pakistan $777,000,000 in foreign aid during fiscal year 
2016, despite Pakistan having some of the strictest en-
forcement of blasphemy laws in the world; 
Whereas in its 2017 Annual Report, the USCIRF stated it 
was aware of at least 40 individuals sentenced to death 
or serving life sentences for blasphemy in Pakistan as of 
the date of the report; 
Whereas Saudi Arabia receives significant United States aid 
in the form of arms sales, despite the 2017 USCIRF An-
nual Report stating, ‘‘Saudi courts continue to prosecute 
and imprison individuals for dissent, apostasy, and blas-
phemy, and a law classifying blasphemy and the pro-
motion of atheism as terrorism has been used to target 
human rights defenders, among others’’; 
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Whereas, in January 2018, the United States Agency for 
International 
Development 
pledged 
an 
additional 
$89,000,000 in development assistance for Nigeria, in-
cluding $10,500,000 for supporting good governance, de-
spite Nigeria having an actively enforced blasphemy law 
and the USCIRF labeling Nigeria as a country of par-
ticular concern; 
Whereas blasphemy laws are often not objectively enforced, 
and are instead used to punish, intimidate, and discrimi-
nate against religious minorities and embolden sectarian 
divisions; 
Whereas despite many countries with active blasphemy laws 
refusing to enforce such laws, the existence of these laws 
within a legal system is an affront to the basic human 
right to freedom of religion; and 
Whereas to maintain its position as the leading global advo-
cate of religious freedom, the United States should re-
frain from providing foreign aid to countries that oppose 
such freedom of religion: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the enforcement of blasphemy 
laws by foreign countries as harmful to the advance-
ment of global religious freedom; 
(2) affirms the enforcement of blasphemy laws 
as wholly incompatible with the moral principles of 
the United States; 
(3) supports the United States Commission on 
International Religious Freedom and its role to doc-
ument religious freedom conditions abroad and en-
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gage multilaterally with organizations and institu-
tions around the world to promote religious freedom; 
(4) urges foreign governments to repeal any 
blasphemy laws and release from custody those who 
have been imprisoned for blasphemy; and 
(5) calls on the Department of State, and all 
other Federal agencies engaged in foreign aid dis-
bursements, when determining recipients of United 
States foreign aid, to consider— 
(A) the level of enforcement of blasphemy 
laws in such countries that have them; and 
(B) suspend, or reconsider the form or dol-
lar amount of, aid to those countries to discour-
age the enforcement of blasphemy laws. 
Æ 
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