[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2444 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.2444

                     One Hundred Sixteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday,
            the third day of January, two thousand and twenty


                                 An Act


 
 To authorize the Secretary of State to make direct loans under section 
       23 of the Arms Export Control Act, 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 ``Eastern European Security Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
    It is the sense of Congress that it is in the national security 
interest of the United States to--
        (1) deter aggression against North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
    (NATO) allies by Russia or any other adversary;
        (2) assist NATO allies in acquiring and deploying modern, NATO 
    interoperable military equipment and reducing their dependence on 
    Russian or former Soviet-era defense articles;
        (3) ensure that NATO allies meet alliance defense commitments, 
    including through adequate investments in national defense;
        (4) supplement existing grant assistance to key allies through 
    foreign military financing loans, at rates competitive with those 
    already available on commercial markets, to purchase NATO-
    interoperable military equipment; and
        (5) work to maintain and strengthen the democratic institutions 
    and practices of all NATO allies, in accordance with the goals of 
    Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
SEC. 3. FOREIGN MILITARY LOAN AUTHORITY.
    (a) In General.--Beginning in fiscal year 2021, subject to the 
notification requirements under subsection (b) and to the availability 
of appropriations, the President, acting through the Secretary of 
State, is authorized--
        (1) to make direct loans under section 23 of the Arms Export 
    Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2763) to NATO member countries that joined 
    the alliance after March 1, 1999, notwithstanding the minimum 
    interest rate required by subsection (c)(1) of such section; and
        (2) to charge fees for such loans under paragraph (1), which 
    shall be collected from borrowers in accordance with section 502(7) 
    of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and which may be used to 
    cover the costs of such loans as defined in section 502 of the 
    Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    (b) Notification.--A loan may not be made under the authority 
provided by subsection (a) unless the Secretary of State submits to the 
appropriate congressional committees a certification, not fewer than 
fifteen days before entering into an agreement to make such loan, 
that--
        (1) the recipient country is making demonstrable progress 
    toward meeting its defense spending commitments in accordance with 
    the 2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration; and
        (2) the government of such recipient country is respecting that 
    country's constitution and upholds democratic values such as 
    freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the 
    rule of law, and the rights of religious minorities.
    (c) Repayment.--A loan made under the authority provided by 
subsection (a) shall be repaid in not more than 12 years, but may 
include a grace period of up to 1 year on the repayment of the 
principal.
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this Act, the 
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
        (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
    Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
        (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
    Appropriations of the Senate.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.