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Requires the U.S. government to use the historical names "Judea and Samaria" instead of "West Bank" in official materials and statutes, bars federal funds for preparing or publishing materials that use the term "West Bank" (with a treaty exception), and updates numerous federal laws and statutory provisions to replace references to the "West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria." The Secretary of State may waive the funding restriction for U.S. interests but must notify Congress within 30 days of any waiver decision.
The United States Government should refer to the land annexed by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War by its historical names of "Judea and Samaria," with the land south of Jerusalem considered "Judea" and the land north of Jerusalem considered "Samaria."
The United States Government should no longer use the term "West Bank" in official government materials.
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available after the date of enactment may be obligated or expended to prepare or promulgate any policy, guidance, regulation, notice, Executive order, materials, briefing, press release, communications, or other work product that refers to Judea and Samaria as the "West Bank".
The prohibition does not apply to the obligation or expenditure of funds relating to obligations of the United States under international treaties or other agreements.
The Secretary of State may waive the prohibition if the Secretary determines that doing so is in the interests of the United States.
Federal executive-branch agencies and their communications operations are the most directly affected: they must stop using the term "West Bank" in materials produced with federal funds, update policies, guidance, websites, briefings, and other work products, and implement the new statutory wording where applicable. The statutory edits will change the official language in multiple U.S. laws, requiring cross-references and internal databases to be updated. Congress is an oversight recipient of waiver notifications and could be involved in reviewing waiver explanations. Internationally, governments, foreign partners, and foreign publics—especially Israeli and Palestinian communities and governments—will be affected by U.S. terminology changes and could respond diplomatically; the change may alter the tone of U.S. public documents and communications on the Israeli–Palestinian question. There is no specified funding for implementation, so agencies may absorb costs for updating materials or require internal reprogramming of budgets. The treaty exception and Secretary of State waiver limit the absolute reach of the prohibition, but the policy still imposes an administrative and diplomatic burden and increases the risk of controversy and potential legal or political challenges.
Amends 22 U.S.C. 2378b(f)(3) by replacing the phrase "the West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria".
Amends 22 U.S.C. 2378c by (A) altering the section heading and (B) replacing each occurrence of the phrase "the West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria."
Amends 22 U.S.C. 2378c–1 (Taylor Force Act section 1004) by changing the section heading and by replacing each occurrence of the phrase "the West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria."
Amends 22 U.S.C. 3421 (Multinational Force and Observers Participation Resolution §2) by striking the phrase "the West Bank" and inserting "Judea and Samaria."
Amends 22 U.S.C. 4862 by (A) altering the section heading and (B) replacing the phrase "the West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria."
Amends 19 U.S.C. 2112 (section 9 of the United States‑Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985) by striking each occurrence of "the West Bank" and inserting "Judea and Samaria."
Amends 22 U.S.C. 2151 (section 2021(i) of the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007) by striking the phrase "the West Bank" and inserting "Judea and Samaria."
Amends 22 U.S.C. 2301 (section 699 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, FY2003) by altering the section heading and by replacing occurrences of "the West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria" (including in subsection (a)).
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Introduced February 4, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress February 4, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Introduced in Senate