[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4650 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4650

    To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to 
                establish a repatriation grant program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2025

 Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Ms. Velazquez, and Mr. Nadler) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to 
                establish a repatriation grant program.

    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 ``Safe Return Act''.

SEC. 2. REPATRIATION GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 4 of the State Department Basic 
Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2671) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by amending clause (ii) to 
                read as follows:
                            ``(ii) private United States citizens, 
                        lawful permanent residents of the United 
                        States, or third-country nationals, on a grant 
                        basis, to the maximum extent practicable;'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (B)--
                            (i) by striking ``loans'' and inserting 
                        ``grants'';
                            (ii) by inserting ``and destitute lawful 
                        permanent residents of the United States'' 
                        after ``destitute citizens of the United 
                        States''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end before the 
                        semicolon the following: ``and lawful permanent 
                        residents''; and
            (2) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``loan'' and inserting ``grant'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``borrower'' and inserting 
                        ``grantee''; and
                            (ii) by adding ``and'' at the end;
                    (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ``a written loan 
                agreement'' and all that follows and inserting ``a 
                written grant agreement.''; and
                    (D) by striking paragraphs (3) through (11).
    (b) Update to Foreign Affairs Manual.--The Secretary of State shall 
update the ``Repatriation Loans'' section of the Foreign Affairs Manual 
to reflect the amendments made by subsection (a).
                                 <all>