RETURN Act
Bill: H.R.6754 | Sponsor: Rep. Barr, Andy (R-KY)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Russians Engaged in Threating Ukraine Refuge Now Act or the RETURN Act
This bill prohibits the U.S. government from charging U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents for their evacuation related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Specifically, the Department of State must waive repayment for travel expenses incurred on behalf of such an individual as part of the evacuation from Ukraine. Similarly, no federal employee may solicit or accept funds from such an individual as a condition of using government-provided transportation to repatriate the individual to the United States.
No traveler may be denied State Department-sponsored air travel related to such an evacuation due to a failure to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test or recovery from COVID-19.

To prohibit the solicitation of reimbursement of any travel expenses 
  incurred by the Department of State on behalf of any United States 
    citizen or lawful permanent resident evacuated from Ukraine and 
       repatriated to the United States, 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 ``Russians Engaged in Threating 
Ukraine Refuge Now Act'' or the ``RETURN Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION OF REIMBURSEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding subsection (b)(2)(A)(ii) of 
section 4 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 
U.S.C. 2671), during the period of evacuation related to a Russian 
invasion of Ukraine and withdrawal of United States Department of State 
personnel from Ukraine--
            (1) the Secretary of State shall waive any repayment of any 
        travel expenses incurred by the Department of State on behalf 
        of any United States citizen or lawful permanent resident 
        evacuated from Ukraine and repatriated to the United States;
            (2) any promissory note or other obligation to repay an 
        emergency repatriation loan signed by a United States citizen 
        or a lawful permanent resident of the United States to 
        reimburse the Department of State for travel expenses described 
        in paragraph (1) shall be null and void; and
            (3) no Federal official or employee may solicit or accept 
        any amount from any individual who is a citizen of the United 
        States or a lawful permanent resident of the United States, 
        whether in the form of a reimbursement or as any other 
        condition of using transportation provided by the United 
        States, to repatriate such individual to the United States.
    (b) Prohibition of Denial of Travel.--No traveler on any Department 
of State-sponsored air travel pursuant to subsection (a) shall be 
denied a flight if such traveler is unable to abide by the requirements 
the Amended Order: Requirement for Proof of Negative COVID-19 Test 
Result or Recovery from COVID-19 for All Airline Passengers Arriving 
into the United States, published on December 2, 2021.
    (c) Termination.--This Act shall terminate on the date that is six 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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