[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6181 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6181

To authorize the Secretary of State to support the establishment of an 
       ASEAN Center in the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 2023

Mr. Castro of Texas (for himself and Mr. Issa) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of State to support the establishment of an 
       ASEAN Center in the United States, 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 ``U.S.-ASEAN Center Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ASEAN CENTER.

    (a) Defined Term.--In this section, the term ``ASEAN'' means the 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
    (b) Establishment.--The Secretary of State is authorized to enter 
into a public-private partnership for the purposes of establishing a 
US-ASEAN Center in the United States to support United States economic 
and cultural engagement with Southeast Asia.
    (c) Functions.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
Secretary of State and the US-ASEAN Center established pursuant to 
subsection (b) may--
            (1) provide grants for research to support and elevate the 
        importance of the US-ASEAN partnership;
            (2) facilitate activities to strengthen US-ASEAN trade and 
        investment;
            (3) expand economic and technological relationships between 
        ASEAN countries and the United States into new areas of 
        cooperation;
            (4) provide training to United States citizens and citizens 
        of ASEAN countries that improve people-to-people ties;
            (5) develop educational programs to increase awareness for 
        the United States and ASEAN countries on the importance of 
        relations between the United States and ASEAN countries; and
            (6) carry out other activities the Secretary considers 
        necessary to strengthen ties between the United States and 
        ASEAN countries and achieve the objectives of the US-ASEAN 
        Center.
    (d) Authority.--This section may be carried out using any amounts 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State, including 
amounts authorized to carry out chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.).
    (e) Parameters.--In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall 
ensure that the activities of the US-ASEAN Center do not duplicate 
current lines of effort being conducted by the United States Government 
or its grantees.
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