[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 861 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 861

  To require the United States Government to obtain and maintain the 
capacity to transmit internet access service abroad and domestically in 
 case of emergency-related disruptions, and to strengthen support for 
circumvention technologies that allow users to evade government-backed 
                              censorship.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 16, 2023

    Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Scott of Florida, and Mr. Hagerty) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the United States Government to obtain and maintain the 
capacity to transmit internet access service abroad and domestically in 
 case of emergency-related disruptions, and to strengthen support for 
circumvention technologies that allow users to evade government-backed 
                              censorship.

    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 ``Protecting Against Tyrants by 
Restoring Internet Access and Yielding Vital Interconnectivity in 
Designated Areas Act of 2023'' or the ``PATRIA Y VIDA Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION OF INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE; CIRCUMVENTION 
              TECHNOLOGY.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Applicable official.--The term ``applicable official'' 
        means the Secretary of State or the Administrator of the 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
            (3) Eligible company.--The term ``eligible company'' means 
        a United States company that--
                    (A) provides internet censorship circumvention 
                tools that have a demonstrated capability to service 
                significant numbers of simultaneous user sessions; and
                    (B) has the capacity to scale up operations in 
                response to foreign internet censorship activity.
            (4) Internet censorship circumvention tool.--The term 
        ``internet censorship circumvention tool'' means a software 
        application or other tool that an individual can use to evade 
        foreign government restrictions on internet access.
    (b) Capacity To Transmit Internet.--
            (1) Transmission in foreign countries.--The Secretary of 
        State, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce 
        for Communications and Information, the Commission, the Chief 
        Executive Officer of the United States Agency for Global Media, 
        the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
        the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and 
        the Secretary of Defense, shall obtain and maintain the 
        capacity of the United States Government to transmit internet 
        access service to locations in foreign countries where the 
        provision of additional internet access service would promote 
        freedom from repressive regimes.
            (2) Transmission in the united states.--The Administrator 
        of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in consultation 
        with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
        Information, the Commission, and the Administrator of the 
        Federal Aviation Administration, shall obtain and maintain the 
        capacity of the United States Government to transmit internet 
        access service to locations in the United States in the case of 
        emergency-related network disruptions.
            (3) Duties of consulted agencies.--A Federal agency with 
        which the applicable official consults under paragraph (1) or 
        (2) shall provide any and all authorizations and support that 
        the applicable official determines necessary to carry out 
        internet restoration as provided in the applicable paragraph.
            (4) Consultation with other federal agencies.--The 
        applicable official may consult with other Federal agencies, in 
        addition to the Federal agencies described in paragraph (1) or 
        (2), as the applicable official determines appropriate.
    (c) Circumvention Technologies.--
            (1) Identification.--The Commission, in consultation with 
        the Secretary of State and each other Federal agency described 
        in subsection (b)(1), shall identify internet censorship 
        circumvention tools that are designed to and can effectively 
        counter large-scale internet censorship activity by foreign 
        governments.
            (2) Surge funding.--The Commission, when necessary due to 
        increased demand for internet censorship circumvention tools 
        because of internet censorship activity by a foreign 
        government, shall rapidly provide funding for eligible 
        companies to provide internet censorship circumvention tools to 
        individuals in that country.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Commission and the Chief Executive Officer of the United 
States Agency for Global Media shall jointly submit to Congress a 
report that describes--
            (1) as of the date of the report--
                    (A) the capacity of the United States Government to 
                transmit internet access service--
                            (i) in foreign countries to circumvent 
                        censorship; and
                            (ii) in the United States in the case of 
                        emergency-related network disruptions; and
                    (B) the capacity of internet censorship 
                circumvention tools that are available to be used by 
                individuals in foreign countries seeking to counteract 
                censors; and
            (2) any new resources needed to provide the United States 
        Government with more robust capacity to--
                    (A) transmit internet access service--
                            (i) in foreign countries to circumvent 
                        censorship; and
                            (ii) in the United States in the case of 
                        emergency-related network disruptions; and
                    (B) rapidly provide funding for companies to 
                provide internet censorship circumvention tools to 
                evade foreign government restrictions on internet 
                access.
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