I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 157 
To authorize assistance for the Government of Tunisia, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2017 
Mr. HASTINGS (for himself and Mr. SCHWEIKERT) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To authorize assistance for the Government of Tunisia, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Combatting Terrorism in Tunisia Emergency Support 
Act of 2017’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. Findings and declarations. 
Sec. 4. Statement of policy regarding Tunisia. 
Sec. 5. Assistance to strengthen and reform the security sector of Tunisia. 
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Sec. 6. Assistance to support efforts of the Government of Tunisia to combat 
terrorism. 
Sec. 7. Assistance to support the military readiness of the Government of Tuni-
sia. 
Sec. 8. Assistance to support democracy and civil society in Tunisia. 
Sec. 9. Assistance to support increased border security for Tunisia. 
Sec. 10. Economic reforms and assistance. 
Sec. 11. Memorandum of understanding. 
Sec. 12. Strategic plan. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives. 
(2) DEFENSE
ARTICLE; DEFENSE
SERVICE; 
TRAINING.—The terms ‘‘defense article’’, ‘‘defense 
service’’, and ‘‘training’’ have the meanings given 
those terms in section 47 of the Arms Export Con-
trol Act (22 U.S.C. 2794 note). 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS. 
Congress finds and declares the following: 
(1) Tunisia has been a critical ally of the 
United States for more than 200 years, dating back 
to 1797 when the Treaty of Peace and Friendship 
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was signed, ensuring the safety and availability of 
open sea lanes in the Mediterranean Sea. 
(2) On December 10, 2010, the self-immolation 
of Tunisian fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi, in-
spired popular revolutions across the region leading 
to political transitions in four countries, often re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Arab Spring’’, and initiating 
Tunisia’s transition to democracy. 
(3) In 2014, Tunisia became the first country 
with a majority Muslim population in the Middle 
East or North Africa to experience both Presidential 
and parliamentary political transitions through free 
and fair democratic elections. 
(4) Since 2011, more than 3,000 Tunisian citi-
zens have gone to fight in Syria making Tunisia one 
of the largest contributors to foreign fighters in 
Syria. 
(5) Tunisia shares a 285-mile border with 
neighboring Libya and is currently hosting more 
than 1,000,000 Libyan refugees fleeing the ongoing 
Libyan civil war and the Islamic State (ISIS). 
(6) The terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia (AAS) 
was founded in April 2011 in Tunisia and is ideo-
logically aligned with Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb 
(AQIM) and ISIS. AAS is responsible for the assas-
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