[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3690 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3690

  To authorize the Secretary of State to pay the costs of evacuating 
nationals of the United States from the Middle East in response to the 
 hostilities between Israel and its neighbors that began in July 2006, 
 and to require, except in limited circumstances, the reimbursement of 
                              such costs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 19, 2006

 Ms. Stabenow introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of State to pay the costs of evacuating 
nationals of the United States from the Middle East in response to the 
 hostilities between Israel and its neighbors that began in July 2006, 
 and to require, except in limited circumstances, the reimbursement of 
                              such costs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PAYMENT OF COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EVACUATION OF UNITED 
              STATES NATIONALS FROM LEBANON.

    (a) Authority.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of State is authorized to 
        make expenditures under section 4 of the State Department Basic 
        Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2671) to cover the costs of 
        evacuating nationals of the United States from the Middle East 
        in response to the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah 
        that began in July 2006.
            (2) Scope.--The authority under paragraph (1) is not 
        subject to the requirement under section 4(a)(1) of the State 
        Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2671(a)(1)) 
        that an emergency arise in the diplomatic and consular service 
        or the requirement under section 4(b)(1)(A) of such Act (22 
        U.S.C. 2671(a)(1)) that expenditures serve to further the 
        realization of foreign policy objectives.
    (b) Reimbursement.--The Secretary shall, in accordance with section 
4(b)(2)(A)(ii) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 2671(b)(2)(A)(ii)), seek 
reimbursement for expenditures under subsection (a)(1) of this section 
for the evacuation of private United States citizens or third-country 
nationals, except that the Secretary may waive such reimbursement 
requirement--
            (1) in the case of any evacuated person for whom the 
        imposition of such requirement would result in undue financial 
        hardship; and
            (2) in the case of any person who is unable to obtain 
        reimbursement or credit from an air carrier for the unused 
        portion of a round-trip commercial air fare or to otherwise 
        reuse such air fare.
    (c) Availability of Funds.--Amounts available pursuant to section 
4(a)(1) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 
U.S.C. 2671(a)(1)) for unforseen emergencies arising in the diplomatic 
and consular service shall be available for expenditures made under 
this section.
                                 <all>