119-s898

[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.
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