H. R. 2444 
One Hundred Sixteenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty 
An Act 
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 Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eastern European Security 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that it is in the national security 
interest of the United States to— 
(1) deter aggression against North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization (NATO) allies by Russia or any other adversary; 
(2) assist NATO allies in acquiring and deploying modern, 
NATO interoperable military equipment and reducing their 
dependence on Russian or former Soviet-era defense articles; 
(3) ensure that NATO allies meet alliance defense commit-
ments, including through adequate investments in national 
defense; 
(4) supplement existing grant assistance to key allies 
through foreign military financing loans, at rates competitive 
with those already available on commercial markets, to pur-
chase NATO-interoperable military equipment; and 
(5) work to maintain and strengthen the democratic institu-
tions and practices of all NATO allies, in accordance with 
the goals of Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty. 
SEC. 3. FOREIGN MILITARY LOAN AUTHORITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 2021, subject to 
the notification requirements under subsection (b) and to the avail-
ability of appropriations, the President, acting through the Sec-
retary 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 member 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 paragraph (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.
H. R. 2444—2 
(b) NOTIFICATION.—A loan may not be made under the authority 
provided by subsection (a) unless the Secretary of State submits 
to the appropriate congressional committees a certification, not 
fewer than fifteen days before entering into an agreement to make 
such loan, that— 
(1) the recipient country is making demonstrable progress 
toward meeting its defense spending commitments in accord-
ance with the 2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration; and 
(2) the government of such recipient country is respecting 
that country’s constitution and upholds democratic values such 
as freedom of religion, freedom 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 1 year on the repayment 
of the principal. 
(d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.—In 
this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee 
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee 
on Appropriations of the Senate. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.