[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1593 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1593

    To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to 
 establish a United States Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2015

Mr. Sensenbrenner (for himself, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Young of 
   Alaska, and Mr. Salmon) 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 United States Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``United States Ambassador at Large 
for Arctic Affairs Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR AT LARGE FOR ARCTIC AFFAIRS.

    Title I of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 
U.S.C. 2651a et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``SEC. 63. UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR AT LARGE FOR ARCTIC AFFAIRS.

    ``(a) Establishment.--There is established within the Department of 
State an Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs (referred to in this 
section as the `Ambassador'), appointed in accordance with subsection 
(b).
    ``(b) Appointment.--The Ambassador shall be appointed by the 
President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
    ``(c) Duties.--
            ``(1) Diplomatic representation.--Subject to the direction 
        of the President and the Secretary of State, the Ambassador is 
        authorized to represent the United States in matters and cases 
        relevant to Arctic affairs in--
                    ``(A) contacts with foreign governments, 
                intergovernmental organizations, and specialized 
                agencies of the United Nations, the Arctic Council, and 
                other international organizations of which the United 
                States is a member; and
                    ``(B) multilateral conferences and meetings 
                relating to Arctic affairs.
            ``(2) Chair of the arctic council.--The Ambassador shall 
        serve as the Chair of the Arctic Council when the United States 
        holds the Chairmanship of the Arctic Council from 2015 through 
        2017.
            ``(3) Policies and procedures.--The Ambassador shall 
        coordinate United States Arctic policies.''.
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