‘‘(2) the important national interest of the 
United States requires the exercise of such waiver au-
thority.’’; 
(4) in subsection (c), as redesignated, by insert-
ing ‘‘or (b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 
that— 
‘‘(1) ongoing and persistent waivers of the appli-
cation of any of the actions described in paragraphs 
(9) through (15) of section 405(a) (or commensurate 
substitute action) with respect to a country do not 
fulfill the purposes of this Act; and 
‘‘(2) because the promotion of religious freedom 
is a compelling interest of United States foreign pol-
icy, the President, the Secretary of State, and other 
executive branch officials, in consultation with Con-
gress, should seek to find ways to address existing vio-
lations, on a case-by-case basis, through the actions 
described in section 405 or other commensurate sub-
stitute action.’’. 
SEC. 305. PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER. 
Section 408(a)(1) of the International Religious Free-
dom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6448(a)(1)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: ‘‘Any designation of a non- 
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state actor as an entity of particular concern for religious 
freedom under section 301 of the Frank R. Wolf Inter-
national Religious Freedom Act and, if applicable and to 
the extent practicable, the identities of individuals deter-
mined to be responsible for violations described in sub-
section (f) of such section.’’. 
TITLE IV—PROMOTION OF 
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
SEC. 401. ASSISTANCE FOR PROMOTING RELIGIOUS FREE-
DOM. 
(a) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—It is the sense of 
Congress that for each fiscal year that begins on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
should make available, from amounts available— 
(1) sufficient funds for the vigorous promotion of 
international religious freedom and for projects to ad-
vance United States interests in the protection and 
advancement of international religious freedom, in 
particular, through grants to groups that— 
(A) are capable of developing legal protec-
tions or promoting cultural and societal under-
standing of international norms of religious free-
dom; 
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(B) seek to address and mitigate religiously 
motivated and sectarian violence and combat 
violent extremism; or 
(C) seek to strengthen investigations, report-
ing, and monitoring of religious freedom viola-
tions, including genocide perpetrated against re-
ligious minorities; and 
(2) sufficient funds for the establishment of an 
effective Religious Freedom Defense Fund, to be ad-
ministered by the Ambassador at Large for Inter-
national Religious Freedom, to provide grants for— 
(A) victims of religious freedom abuses and 
their families to cover legal and other expenses 
that may arise from detention, imprisonment, 
torture, fines, and other restrictions; and 
(B) projects to help create and support 
training of a new generation of defenders of reli-
gious freedom, including legal and political ad-
vocates, and civil society projects which seek to 
create advocacy networks, strengthen legal rep-
resentation, train and educate new religious free-
dom defenders, and build the capacity of reli-
gious communities and rights defenders to pro-
tect against religious freedom violations, miti-
gate societal or sectarian violence, or minimize 
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legal or other restrictions of the right to freedom 
of religion. 
(b) PREFERENCE.—It is the sense of Congress that, in 
providing grants under subsection (a), the Ambassador at 
Large for International Religious Freedom should, as ap-
propriate, give preference to projects targeting religious 
freedom violations in countries— 
(1) designated as countries of particular concern 
for religious freedom under section 402(b)(1) of the 
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 
U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)); or 
(2) included on the Special Watch List described 
in section 402(b)(1)(A)(iii) of the International Reli-
gious Freedom Act of 1998, as added by section 
302(1)(A)(i) of this Act. 
(c) ADMINISTRATION AND CONSULTATIONS.— 
(1) ADMINISTRATION.—Amounts made available 
under subsection (a) shall be administered by the Am-
bassador at Large for International Religious Free-
dom. 
(2) CONSULTATIONS.—In developing priorities 
and policies for providing grants authorized under 
subsection (a), including programming and policy , 
the Ambassador at Large for International Religious 
Freedom should consult with other Federal agencies, 
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including the United States Commission on Inter-
national Religious Freedom and, as appropriate, non-
governmental organizations. 
TITLE V—DESIGNATED PERSONS 
LIST FOR PARTICULARLY SE-
VERE VIOLATIONS OF RELI-
GIOUS FREEDOM 
SEC. 501. DESIGNATED PERSONS LIST FOR PARTICULARLY 
SEVERE VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREE-
DOM. 
Title VI of the International Religious Freedom Act 
of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6471 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating section 605 as section 606; 
and 
(2) by inserting after section 604 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 605. DESIGNATED PERSONS LIST FOR PARTICULARLY 
SEVERE VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREE-
DOM. 
‘‘(a) LIST.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in 
coordination with the Ambassador at Large and in 
consultation with relevant government and non-
government experts, shall establish and maintain a 
list of foreign individuals to whom a consular post 
has denied a visa on the grounds of particularly se-
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