H.R. 4215

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4215 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4215

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 3, 2025

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

AN ACT

To require the Secretary of State to promulgate expedited and fixed 
timelines for the decision-making process to license the export of 
certain defense articles and defense services, 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 ``International Traffic in Arms 
Regulations Licensing Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. LIST OF COUNTRIES AND END-USERS TO RECEIVE PRIORITY FOR DIRECT 
COMMERCIAL SALES.

(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall develop and 
maintain a list of countries and end-users with respect to which 
expedited decision-making for applications for licenses for the export 
of defense articles and defense services is vital to the national 
security of the United States, consistent with the requirements of the 
Arms Export Control Act and other applicable provisions of law.
(b) Submission to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after the 
development of the list required by subsection (a), and annually 
thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate an updated copy of the list.

SEC. 3. DECISION-MAKING PROCESS FOR APPLICATIONS FOR DIRECT COMMERCIAL 
SALES.

Not later than 30 days after the date on which the Secretary of 
State publishes the list required by section 2, the Secretary, in 
coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall initiate a rulemaking 
process to establish an expedited timeline for the decision-making 
process with respect to applications to export defense articles or 
defense services under the Arms Export Control Act to countries or end-
users identified by such list and a fixed timeline for decisions for 
all other applications for such exports. The timelines so established 
shall provide that, to the maximum extent practicable--
(1) an application to export defense articles or defense 
services to a listed country or end-user shall be approved, 
returned, or denied not later than 45 days after the date on 
which the application is submitted to the Secretary;
(2) an application to export defense articles or defense 
services to any country or end-user shall be approved, 
returned, or denied not later than 60 days after the date on 
which the application is submitted to the Secretary; and
(3) the deadlines described in paragraphs (1) and (2) may 
be suspended with respect to an application if necessary--
(A) for applicable time periods specified in 
subsection (b), (c), or (d) of section 36 of such Act, 
during which Congress may enact a joint resolution 
prohibiting the approval of such application; or
(B) for such time as may be required to receive a 
decision from the Secretary of Defense with respect to 
an application that is subject to approval by the 
Department of Defense, including technology security 
and foreign disclosure release determinations.

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

(a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall submit to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on a semi-annual basis a 
report, which may be submitted in classified form, that identifies each 
application to export defense articles or defense services during the 
preceding 180-day period with respect to which the time to reach a 
decision exceeded the applicable deadline described in section 3(1) or 
3(2).
(b) Matter To Be Included.--The report required by this section 
shall also include the following information with respect to each 
application so identified:
(1) The defense articles or defense services included in 
the application.
(2) The recipient country, end-user, and any corporate 
entities involved in the application.
(3) Whether the United States has previously exported 
similar defense articles or defense services to the recipient 
country or end-user.
(4) A justification for the delay in reaching a decision 
with respect to the application.
(5) The anticipated timeline for reaching a decision with 
respect to the application, if still pending as of the date of 
the submission of the report.

Passed the House of Representatives September 2, 2025.

Attest:

KEVIN F. MCCUMBER,

Clerk.