Congress: 117 · Status: active · Israel/Palestine classification: pro-Israel
Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).
Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for S 3467.
Sponsor: Risch, James E. (R-Idaho)
UNRWA Accountability and Transparency Act This bill makes changes to U.S. foreign policy in matters concerning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). For purposes of this policy, the bill defines Palestinian refugee as a person who (1) resided from June 1946 to May 1948 in Mandatory Palestine (a region controlled by Britain until 1948), (2) was personally displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, and (3) has not accepted citizenship or other permanent adjustment in status in another country. Furthermore, under U.S. policy, derivative refugee status may only extend to the spouse or minor child of such a Palestinian refugee. The bill withholds U.S. funding for the UNRWA unless the Department of State makes certifications concerning the UNRWA's staff, partners, and funding. Specifically, the State Department must certify that neither UNRWA staff and partners nor its funding and facilities are affiliated with terrorism or engaged in the dissemination of certain rhetoric, such as calling for the destruction of Israel or describing Israelis as occupiers or settlers . Additionally, the State Department must certify that the UNRWA is subject to comprehensive independent financial audits and is unaffiliated with any financial institutions that the United States considers to be complicit in money laundering or terror financing. The State Department must also implement a plan to encourage other countries to align their activities and efforts regarding the UNRWA with U.S. policy objectives, including the phaseout of the UNRWA by resettling Palestinian refugees outside of Israel.
This bill blocks U.S. funding to UNRWA (the UN agency serving Palestinian refugees) unless the State Department certifies that UNRWA staff and partners have no ties to terrorism, that UNRWA doesn't use rhetoric describing Israel as an occupier or calling for its destruction, and that UNRWA undergoes independent financial audits. It also narrows the definition of Palestinian refugee to those personally displaced in 1948 and their spouses/minor children—excluding descendants—and directs the State Department to push other countries to phase out UNRWA by resettling Palestinian refugees outside Israel.
This legislation sets conditions on U.S. aid to UNRWA and restricts which Palestinians qualify as refugees under U.S. policy, effectively narrowing the population UNRWA serves. The rhetoric clause could be used to defund the agency over statements by staff members, and the phaseout language signals intent to eliminate UNRWA as an institution—stakes that directly affect Palestinian refugee services and the political definition of Palestinian refugee status.