I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1238 
To authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque 
and reprisal with respect to acts of aggression against the United States 
by a member of a cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization, 
or any conspirator associated with a cartel, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2025 
Mr. BURCHETT (for himself and Mr. MESSMER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To authorize the President of the United States to issue 
letters of marque and reprisal with respect to acts of 
aggression against the United States by a member of 
a cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization, 
or any conspirator associated with a cartel, 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 ‘‘Cartel Marque and 
Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution 
grants the Congress the power to grant letters of 
marque and reprisal to punish, deter, and prevent 
the acts of aggression and depredations and other 
acts of war committed by cartel conspirators. 
(2) Cartels present an unusual and extraor-
dinary threat to national security and foreign policy 
of the United States. 
SEC. 3. ISSUANCE OF LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL. 
(a) AUTHORITY OF PRESIDENT.—The President of 
the United States is authorized and requested to commis-
sion, under officially issued letters of marque and reprisal, 
so many of privately armed and equipped persons and en-
tities as, in the judgment of the President, the service may 
require, with suitable instructions to the leaders thereof, 
to employ all means reasonably necessary to seize outside 
the geographic boundaries of the United States and its 
territories the person and property of any individual who 
the President determines is a member of a cartel, a mem-
ber of a cartel-linked organization, or a conspirator associ-
ated with a cartel or a cartel-linked organization, who is 
responsible for an act of aggression against the United 
States. 
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(b) SECURITY BONDS.—No letter of marque and re-
prisal shall be issued by the President without requiring 
the posting of a security bond in such amount as the 
President shall determine is sufficient to ensure that the 
letter be executed according to the terms and conditions 
thereof. 
(c) DEFINITION OF CARTEL.—In this section, the 
term ‘‘cartel’’ means an organization that— 
(1) is described in section 1 of the executive 
order titled ‘‘Designating Cartels And Other Organi-
zations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Spe-
cially Designated Global Terrorists’’ and dated Jan-
uary 20, 2025; or 
(2) is a ‘‘transnational criminal organization’’ 
under the meaning given that term in section 
3003(5) of the Public Law 118–50 (21 U.S.C. 
2341(5)). 
Æ 
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