[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 898 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 898
To restore funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 6, 2025
Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr.
Van Hollen, Ms. Smith, and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To restore funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
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 ``UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration
Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
Congress--
(1) recognizes that preventing further erosion of civilian
conditions in Gaza remains in the strategic and moral interests
of the United States;
(2) supports UNRWA's unique and indispensable contribution
to immediately addressing urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza,
especially in mitigating and stopping the spread of famine and
disease;
(3) reaffirms the imperative of UNRWA's continued provision
of humanitarian and human development services to Palestinian
refugees in all its current fields of operation, including
Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank (including East
Jerusalem);
(4) urges the Government of Israel to assist UNRWA in its
neutrality efforts by providing names, information, and
evidence UNRWA can use to aggressively pursue allegations
related to staff violations of UNRWA's neutrality policies;
(5) urges the President--
(A) to join United States allies in restoring
funding to UNRWA in response to the responsible actions
taken by the United Nations and the commitments made by
UNRWA toward additional accountability and
transparency; and
(B) to ensure continued funding to UNRWA is
assessed based on UNRWA's ongoing execution of the
recommendations of the Independent Review Group, led by
Catherine Colonna;
(6) recognizes the implementation of some of the
Independent Review Group's recommendations will require United
Nations member state cooperation, including additional funding;
(7) urges the United States and Israel to assist UNRWA in
its implementation efforts of the Independent Review Group's
recommendations; and
(8) supports appropriating critical funds to UNRWA for
fiscal year 2025 and beyond.
SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF FUNDING FOR UNRWA.
(a) In General.--Beginning on the date of the enactment of this
Act--
(1) title III of division G of the Further Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-47) is hereby
repealed;
(2) section 308 of the Israel Security Supplemental
Appropriations Act, 2024 (division A of Public Law 118-50) is
hereby repealed; and
(3) the Secretary of State shall, notwithstanding any other
provision of law and as soon as practicable--
(A) resume the provision of funding to UNRWA under
current authorities of the Department of State; and
(B) provide funding to UNRWA consistent with the
Secretary's waiver for lifesaving humanitarian aid; and
(4) the President shall rescind the Executive order
entitled ``Withdrawing the United States From and Ending
Funding to Certain United Nations Organizations and Reviewing
United States Support to All International Organizations'' of
February 4, 2025 (90 Fed. Reg. 9275).
(b) Reports.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter through December 31,
2028, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the appropriate
congressional committees of jurisdiction describing the steps UNRWA is
taking to implement the recommendations made by the Independent Review
Group, led by Catherine Colonna.
<all>