Flights for Freedom Act

Bill: 117-hr-5102
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-22]
Introduced: 2021-08-24
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Afghanistan

Asia

Conflicts and wars

Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad

Emergency planning and evacuation

Government lending and loan guarantees

Military operations and strategy

Transportation costs
Latest action: action_date: 2021-09-30
text: Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Voice Vote.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-08-24
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Flights for Freedom Act</strong></p> <p>This bill prohibits the U.S. government from charging U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents for their evacuation during the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces from Afghanistan.</p> <p>Specifically, the Department of State must waive repayment for travel expenses incurred on behalf of such an individual as part of the evacuation from Afghanistan. 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.</p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5102 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 24, 2021 Ms. Tenney (for herself, Mr. Mast , and Mr. Tiffany ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To prohibit the United States from soliciting or accepting funds from American citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States as a condition of their repatriation from Afghanistan during the period of evacuation related to the withdrawal of the Armed Forces from Afghanistan, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Flights for Freedom Act . 2. Prohibition on solicitation of reimbursement 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 the withdrawal of the Armed Forces from Afghanistan— (1) the Secretary of State shall waive any expectation of repayment of any travel expenses incurred by the Department of State on behalf of any United States citizen or lawful permanent resident evacuated from Afghanistan 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.