[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3194 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3194
To provide financial lending mechanisms to assist North Atlantic Treaty
Organization allies in modernizing their military forces, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 11, 2019
Mr. Engel (for himself and Mr. McCaul) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide financial lending mechanisms to assist North Atlantic Treaty
Organization allies in modernizing their military forces, 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 ``NATO Defense Financing Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Many United States allies, including some North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, continue to
operate Soviet era military equipment. This equipment is
outdated, unreliable, increasingly unsafe and is unable to
effectively integrate and operate jointly with United States
military forces.
(2) The inability of some NATO allies to fully operate
alongside United States military forces decreases NATO combat
effectiveness and places additional strain on the United States
military.
(3) Some NATO allies are compelled to buy spare parts and
services from Russian providers to keep their Soviet-designed
equipment functional. These NATO allies desire to operate
modern Western military equipment, but have limited financial
resources available to purchase expensive new equipment.
(4) Following the end of World War II, the United States
faced a need to help allies rebuild their militaries, which it
addressed by providing substantial financial assistance through
the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949 (22 U.S.C. 1571 et
seq.) and the Mutual Security Act of 1951 (Public Law 82-165;
65 Stat. 373). However, the United States has not provided
similar assistance to new NATO allies following the end of the
Cold War.
(5) Given the return of ``great power competition'' and an
aggressive Russia, there is a pressing need to assist NATO
allies to modernize their forces and replace their obsolete
Soviet military equipment.
(6) The United States does provide some military equipment
to NATO allies through the foreign military financing program
and other grant assistance, but that assistance is insufficient
to meet allies' needs.
(7) To supplement existing grant assistance, providing
foreign military financing loans to allies--at rates
competitive with those already available on commercial
markets--to purchase NATO interoperable military equipment
supports allies' modernization requirements.
(8) As described in Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty,
in addition to providing security to allies, NATO was
established to promote democratic institutions and values ``by
strengthening their free institutions, by bringing about a
better understanding of the principles upon which these
institutions are founded, and by promoting conditions of
stability and well-being''.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy 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
commitments, including through adequate investments in national
defense; and
(4) work to maintain and strengthen the democratic
institutions and practices of all NATO allies, in accordance
with the goals of Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
SEC. 4. FOREIGN MILITARY LOAN AUTHORITY.
(a) In General.--Subject to the notification requirements under
subsection (b), the President, acting through the Secretary of State,
is authorized--
(1) to make direct loans under section 23 of the Arms
Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2763) to member countries of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that joined 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.
(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 spending commitments in accordance with the
2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration;
(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 minorities; and
(3) the recipient country has demonstrated fiscal
stability, a commitment to a free market economy, and the
financial capacity to meet the terms of the loan proposed to be
provided by the United States.
(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 one 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.
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