H.R. 1263 — Strengthening the Quad Act

This section provides the short title, the “Strengthening the Quad Act.”

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should continue strengthening cooperation with Australia, India, and Japan through the Quadrilateral Dialogue (Quad) to promote a free, open, inclusive, resilient, and healthy Indo-Pacific characterized by democratic norms, the rule of law, market-driven economic growth, and freedom from undue influence and coercion. It also states that the United States should expand Quad dialogue with additional partners to support peace and prosperity, freedom of navigation and overflight, the peaceful resolution of disputes, and democratic resilience in the Indo-Pacific. As background, the Quad is a diplomatic partnership among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan. The section further notes that the March 12, 2021, Quad leaders’ pledge to address shared challenges in public health, cyberspace, critical technologies, counterterrorism, quality infrastructure investment, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and maritime domains established the basis for ongoing cooperation. It states that the Quad countries should finance competitive, transparent, and sustainable development and infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific through institutions including the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and multilateral development banks such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The section also states that elevating the Quad to the leaders’ level was important to strengthening cooperation and that the Quad Leaders’ Summit should continue to meet regularly. It references the fifth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima on May 20, 2023, and the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Washington, DC, on January 21, 2025. Finally, it states that a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group should be formed to sustain and deepen engagement among senior officials across the 4 countries on a full range of issues and to model that group on existing U.S. bilateral inter-parliamentary groups with Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

This section directs the Secretary of State to submit, not later than 180 days after enactment, a strategy to bolster U.S. engagement and cooperation with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) involving Australia, India, and Japan. The strategy must describe how the United States will demonstrate democratic leadership in the Indo-Pacific through Quad engagement; summarize current and past whole-of-government Quad initiatives, including efforts related to economic growth, technology cooperation, energy innovation, climate mitigation and adaptation, infrastructure, education, disaster management, resilient supply chains in critical minerals, and global health security; identify proposals agreed to by all Quad countries since January 2021 to deepen security cooperation, intelligence sharing, economic partnerships, and multilateral coordination; and describe joint initiatives and agreements with Quad countries and other like-minded Indo-Pacific partners since January 2021. It also must identify diplomatic and bureaucratic barriers to expanding Quad cooperation and recommend how Congress could help address those barriers, including any new authorities and additional resources needed to scale successful Quad initiatives. The section defines the “appropriate congressional committees” as the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

This section directs the Secretary of State, not later than 60 days after enactment, to seek negotiations with Australia, India, and Japan to reach a written agreement establishing a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer cooperation on shared interests and values. It also establishes a United States Group to represent the United States in the working group once the agreement is reached. The United States Group would be composed of not more than 24 Members of Congress, with half appointed by the Speaker of the House, based on recommendations from the House minority leader, and half appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate, based on recommendations from the Senate majority and minority leaders. At least 4 House appointees must be members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and at least 4 Senate appointees must be members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, unless the Senate leaders determine otherwise. The section requires the United States Group to seek to meet at least annually with representatives and appropriate staff of the legislatures of Australia, India, and Japan, and any other country invited by mutual agreement of the Quad countries. Such meetings may be held in the United States, in another Quad country during periods when Congress is not in session, or virtually. It also authorizes the House and Senate leaders to designate a chairperson or vice chairperson from the relevant foreign affairs committees, permits the group to accept gifts or donations of services or property subject to ethics review, makes the chairperson’s certification of expenditures final for auditing purposes, requires an annual report to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and directs senior U.S. officials to provide regular updates and briefings to the group before and after major Quadrilateral dialogues.