Sponsors (12)
The bill trades clearer, uniform U.S. terminology and administrative consistency (and protections against funding contested terminology) for heightened risk of diplomatic friction, operational constraints on diplomacy, and administrative costs and domestic polarization.
Federal, state, and local agencies will have a uniform naming convention for the geographic area (consistent terminology across statutes and agency materials), reducing ambiguity about which place names to use in laws and official documents.
The measure preserves U.S. legal and diplomatic commitments while giving the Secretary of State authority to permit exceptions when national interests require, allowing necessary flexibility for ongoing treaties and diplomacy.
Taxpayers and federal agencies avoid funding communications that use a politically contested place name, addressing concerns that U.S. funds be used for terminology some lawmakers view as politically sensitive.
The change in official U.S. terminology risks significant diplomatic friction with Palestinian authorities and some international partners and could complicate negotiations, cooperation, and treaty implementation.
Limits on use of the widely accepted term (and requirements to avoid it absent a waiver) may hinder clear diplomatic communication and consistency in international engagement, making it harder for the State Department and other agencies to communicate effectively abroad.
Agencies and governments will incur administrative burdens, delays, and compliance costs updating maps, briefs, statutes, forms, and communications or seeking waivers, which can slow routine diplomacy, program implementation, and impose resource costs on federal, state, and local governments.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires federal agencies and certain statutes to use "Judea and Samaria" instead of "the West Bank," bans federal funds for materials calling it the "West Bank," with a State waiver.
Introduced January 31, 2025 by Claudia Tenney · Last progress January 31, 2025
Requires federal agencies and federal law text to use the geographic terms "Judea and Samaria" instead of "the West Bank." It expresses a nonbinding congressional view that U.S. materials should adopt those historical names, bans use of federal funds to prepare or publish materials that call "Judea and Samaria" the "West Bank" (with a limited State Department waiver), and updates statutory language in a set of existing laws to replace the phrase "the West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria." The changes are limited to terminology and do not create new program authorities or change substantive conditions in the affected statutes.