H.R. 5543

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5543 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5543

To require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary 
of Defense, to submit a report on emerging threats posed to the 
Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 23, 2025

Mr. Bell (for himself, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Ansari, Mr. 
Auchincloss, Mr. Bishop, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Carson, Mr. Case, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Costa, Mr. Davis of 
North Carolina, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Elfreth, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Goldman 
of New York, Ms. Goodlander, Mr. Gottheimer, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. 
Keating, Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia, Mr. Landsman, Ms. McBride, Mr. 
Meeks, Mr. Moore of Utah, Mr. Panetta, Mrs. Radewagen, Mr. Schneider, 
Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Turner of Ohio, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Wilson of South 
Carolina, Mr. Hurd of Colorado, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and Mr. Cohen) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary 
of Defense, to submit a report on emerging threats posed to the 
Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 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 ``Baltic Security Assessment Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) supporting and strengthening the security of the 
Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is in the national 
security interests of the United States;
(2) continuing to strengthen and update the security 
cooperation roadmap for the United States and the Baltic 
countries is critical to achieving strategic security 
priorities as the Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania 
face ongoing belligerence and threats from the Russian 
Federation, including amid the Russian Federation's illegal and 
unprovoked war in Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022;
(3) Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have been valued members 
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and continue 
to contribute to the organizations' collective security and 
partnership; and
(4) improved economic ties between the United States, 
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, including to counter economic 
pressure by the People's Republic of China, offer an 
opportunity to strengthen the United States-Baltic strategic 
partnership.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON EMERGING THREATS TO THE BALTIC COUNTRIES.

(a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of 
Defense, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
report on--
(1) emerging military, cyber, hybrid, and political threats 
posed to the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, and 
the Republic of Lithuania (in this section referred to 
collectively as the ``Baltic countries'');
(2) the roles of the Russian Federation, the Republic of 
Belarus, the People's Republic of China, the Islamic Republic 
of Iran, and other malign actors in advancing such threats;
(3) the current posture and presence of United States and 
NATO forces in the region in deterring such threats;
(4) opportunities to enhance bilateral and multilateral 
defense cooperation between the United States and the Baltic 
countries; and
(5) recommendations for strengthening the deterrence 
posture, cybersecurity infrastructure, and democratic 
resilience of the Baltic countries.
(b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted 
in unclassifed form and may contain a classified annex.
(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
Armed Services of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
Armed Services of the Senate.
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