“A bill to restore funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional policy recognizing the U.S. strategic and moral interest in preventing further erosion of civilian conditions in Gaza; supporting UNRWA's (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) humanitarian role in Gaza and Palestinian refugee services in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem); urging Israel to assist UNRWA's neutrality efforts; urging the President to restore funding alongside U.S. allies based on UNRWA's implementation of recommendations from the Independent Review Group led by Catherine Colonna; recognizing the need for UN and member state cooperation on those recommendations; urging U.S. and Israeli assistance in their implementation; and supporting appropriations for UNRWA for FY2025 and beyond.
This section restores U.S. funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)—which provides education, health care, and humanitarian relief to approximately 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees—by (1) repealing title III of division G of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47), (2) repealing section 308 of the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024 (division A of P.L. 118-50), (3) directing the Secretary of State to resume funding under current authorities and consistent with the Secretary’s waiver for lifesaving humanitarian aid as soon as practicable notwithstanding any other provision of law, and (4) requiring the President to rescind Executive Order of February 4, 2025, withdrawing the United States from certain United Nations organizations (90 Fed. Reg. 9275). It further requires the Secretary of State to submit reports to the appropriate congressional committees, initially within 90 days of enactment and quarterly thereafter through December 31, 2028, describing UNRWA’s steps to implement recommendations of the Independent Review Group led by Catherine Colonna.