Sec. 30402. Economic defense response teams
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/bill/117/hr/4521/pcs/section-30402·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall develop and implement a pilot program for the creation of deployable economic defense response teams to help provide emergency technical assistance and support to a country subjected to the threat or use of coercive economic measures (in this section referred to as a partner country ) and to play a liaison role between the legitimate government of that country and the United States Government.
Such assistance and support may include the following activities: Reducing the partner country’s vulnerability to coercive economic measures. Minimizing the damage that such measures by an adversary could cause to the partner country. Implementing any bilateral or multilateral contingency plans that may exist for responding to the threat or use of such measures. In coordination with the partner country, developing or improving plans and strategies by the country for reducing vulnerabilities and improving responses to such measures in the future.
Assisting the partner country in dealing with foreign sovereign investment in infrastructure or related projects that may undermine the partner country’s sovereignty. Assisting the partner country in responding to specific efforts from an adversary attempting to employ economic coercion that undermines the partner country’s sovereignty, including efforts in the cyber domain, such as efforts that undermine cybersecurity or digital security of the partner country or initiatives that introduce digital technologies in a manner that undermines freedom, security, and sovereignty of the partner country.
Otherwise providing direct and relevant short-to-medium term economic or other assistance from the United States and marshalling other resources in support of effective responses to such measures. Upon establishment of the pilot program required by subsection (a), the Secretary of State, in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies and offices, shall provide the appropriate congressional committees with a detailed report and briefing describing the pilot program, the major elements of the program, the personnel and institutions involved, and the degree to which the program incorporates the elements described in subsection (a).
Not later than one year after the date on which the report required by paragraph
(1)is submitted, the Secretary of State, in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies and offices, shall provide the appropriate congressional committees with a detailed report and briefing describing the operations over the previous year of the pilot program established pursuant to subsection (a), as well as the Secretary’s assessment of its performance and suitability for becoming a permanent program. Each report required under this subsection shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex. The President may activate an economic defense response team for a period of 180 days under the authorities of this section to assist a partner country in responding to an unusual and extraordinary economic coercive threat by an adversary of the United States upon the declaration of a coercive economic emergency, together with notification to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. The President may activate the response team for an additional 180 days upon the submission of a detailed analysis to the committees described in paragraph
(1)justifying why the continued deployment of the economic defense response team in response to the economic emergency is in the national security interest of the United States. The authorities provided under this section shall expire on December 31, 2026. Neither the authority to declare an economic crisis provided for in subsection (d), nor the declaration of an economic crisis pursuant to subsection (d), shall confer or be construed to confer any authority, power, duty, or responsibility to the President other than the authority to activate an economic defense response team as described in this section. In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees means— the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and the Committee on Finance of the Senate; and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives.