[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2967 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2967
To establish an Assistant Secretary of State for Arctic Affairs.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 7, 2021
Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. King, Mr. Cramer, Ms. Collins, Ms.
Klobuchar, and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
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A BILL
To establish an Assistant Secretary of State for Arctic Affairs.
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 ``Arctic Diplomacy Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ARCTIC AFFAIRS.
Section 1(c) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956
(22 U.S.C. 2651a(c)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``not more than 24
Assistant Secretaries of State'' and inserting ``not more than
25 Assistant Secretaries of State'';
(2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new
paragraph:
``(4) Assistant secretary of state for arctic affairs.--
``(A) In general.--There is authorized to be in the
Department of State an Assistant Secretary of State for
Arctic Affairs, who shall be responsible to the
Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs for all matters, programs, and
related activities pertaining to the Arctic region in
the conduct of foreign policy by the Department,
including, as appropriate, leading the coordination of
programs carried out by United States Government
agencies abroad, and such other related duties as the
Secretary may from time to time designate.
``(B) Areas of responsibility.--The Assistant
Secretary of State for Arctic Affairs shall maintain
continuous observation and coordination of all matters
pertaining to energy, environment, trade,
infrastructure development and maintenance, law
enforcement, and political-military affairs in the
conduct of foreign policy in the Arctic, including
programs carried out by other United States Government
agencies when such programs pertain to the following
matters:
``(i) National security.
``(ii) Strengthening cooperation among
Arctic countries.
``(iii) The promotion of responsible
natural resource management and economic
development.
``(iv) Protecting the Arctic environment
and conserving its biological resources.
``(v) Arctic indigenous peoples, including
by involving them in decisions that affect
them.
``(vi) Scientific monitoring and research.
``(C) Additional duties.--In addition to the
responsibilities specified in subparagraph (B), the
Assistant Secretary for Arctic Affairs shall also carry
out such other relevant duties as the Secretary may
assign.
``(D) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
``(i) Arctic region.--The term `Arctic
region' means--
``(I) the geographic region north
of the 66.56083 parallel latitude north
of the equator;
``(II) all the United States
territory north and west of the
boundary formed by the Porcupine,
Yukon, and Kuskokwim Rivers;
``(III) all contiguous seas,
including the Arctic Ocean and the
Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi Seas; and
``(IV) the Aleutian Chain.
``(ii) Arctic countries.--The term `Arctic
Countries' means the permanent members of the
Arctic Council, namely the United States,
Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden,
Finland, and Russia.''.
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