H.R. 8817

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8817 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8817

To permit the transfer of United States defense articles and defense 
services among the Baltic states.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 14, 2026

Ms. Johnson of Texas (for herself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. 
Keating, Mr. Bacon, and Mr. Carbajal) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To permit the transfer of United States defense articles and defense 
services among the Baltic states.

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 ``Facilitating Operational Readiness 
Through Inter-Baltics Flexibility Act'' or the ``FORTIFY Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Baltic states play an important role in deterring 
aggression by the Russian Federation due to the strategic 
geographic location of the Baltic states in relation to--
(A) the ongoing war between Ukraine and the Russian 
Federation; and
(B) the Russian Federation's increasing interest in 
Europe overall; and
(2) if the Baltic states were given standing permission and 
the capability to use the defense articles and services of each 
other Baltic state, and were provided the training to do so, 
the Russian Federation would likely assume that the entire 
combined fleet in the Baltic states could operate at any time 
anywhere in the Baltic region, which would significantly 
complicate Russian Federation planning and enhance deterrence 
at no cost.

SEC. 3. PERMISSION TO TRANSFERS UNITED STATES DEFENSE ARTICLES AND 
DEFENSE SERVICES AMONG BALTIC STATES.

(a) Exemptions From Requirement for Consent To Transfer.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding section 3(a)(2) of the 
Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2753(a)(2)) and Section 
505(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2314(a)(1)), retransfers of any defense article or defense 
service among the Baltic states shall not require prior 
Presidential consent.
(2) Prior agreements.--
(A) Consent to transfer not required.--Any 
agreement between the United States and a Baltic state 
under section 3 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 
U.S.C. 2753) with respect to any defense article or 
defense service shall not require the Baltic state to 
seek approval from the United States to transfer such 
article or service to any other Baltic state.
(B) Modification.--With respect to any agreement 
under section 3(a)(2) of the Arms Export Control Act 
(22 U.S.C. 2753(a)(2)) in effect as of the date of the 
enactment of this Act that requires the consent of the 
President before a Baltic state may transfer a defense 
article or defense service, the United States shall 
modify such agreement so as to remove such requirement 
with respect to such a transfer to any other Baltic 
state.
(b) Common Coalition Key.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish 
among the Baltic countries a common coalition key within the Baltic 
states for the purpose of sharing ammunition for any defense article or 
service among the Baltic states for training and operational purposes.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Baltic state.--The term ``Baltic state'' means the 
following:
(A) Estonia.
(B) Lithuania.
(C) Latvia.
(2) Defense article; defense service.--The terms ``defense 
article'' and ``defense service'' have the meanings given such 
terms in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 
2794).
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