Taylor Force Act

H.R.1164
Introduced: 
February 16, 2017
115
First
December 5, 2017
Passed in House

This bill would prohibit aid to the West Bank and Gaza “that directly benefits the PA” until the secretary of state can certify that the PA, PLO and any affiliated organizations are “taking credible steps” to end acts of violence against U.S. and Israeli citizens in the West Bank and “publicly condemning such acts”; ending the PA’s monthly payments to the perpetrators of such attacks; and dismantling any system for compensating imprisoned Palestinians that uses the individual’s sentence to determine the amount of compensation allotted. If the secretary is unable to make this certification, he would be required to report to Congress the reasons why and the total amount of aid withheld.

The secretary would also be required to report to Congress annually on variety of indicators related to the Palestinian payments in question and U.S. efforts to stop them.

The prohibition described above would not apply to aid for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, wastewater projects, and any program or project that provides vaccinations to children. This exception was reportedly added to the bill following backroom pressure from the White House. In public, Trump administration officials consistently supported the bill. At the same time, there were sporadic reports that some in the administration thought passing it into law would negatively affect their efforts to restart Palestinian-Israeli peace talks (see JPS 47 [1–3]). In early 2018, there were reports that Senate Republicans were interested in removing these exceptions. In the version that ultimately passed into law (see *H.R.1625 of 3/20/17), the exceptions for wastewater projects and vaccinations were each capped at $500,000 per year.

This bill was named for the U.S. citizen killed by a Palestinian assailant on 3/8/16 in Tel Aviv.

While this bill was percolating through Congress in 2017, Palestinian solidarity activists and their allies argued that it would lead to the PA being labeled a supporter of terrorism if it opted not to end the compensation program described above. They feared that label would lead to calls for the U.S. to apply anti-terror laws to the PA.

Sponsor/Cosponsors:

Ralph Abraham(R-LA)Richard W. Allen(R-GA)Mark E. Amodei(R-NV)Jodey C. Arrington(R-TX)Brian Babin(R-TX)Don Bacon(R-NE)Jim Banks(R-IN)Louis Barletta(R-PA)Gus Bilirakis(R-FL)Mike Bishop(R-MI)Marsha Blackburn(R-TN)Rod Blum(R-IA)Mike Bost(R-IL)Brendan Boyle(D-PA)Kevin Brady(R-TX)Dave Brat(R-VA)Susan Brooks(R-IN)Vernon Buchanan(R-FL)Larry Bucshon(R-IN)Ted Budd(R-NC)Michael Burgess(R-TX)Bradley Byrne(R-AL)Ken Calvert(R-CA)Buddy Carter(R-GA)Steve Chabot(R-OH)Mike Coffman(R-CO)Doug Collins(R-GA)James Comer(R-KY)Barbara Comstock(R-VA)Paul Cook(R-CA)Ryan Costello(R-PA)Kevin Cramer(R-ND)John Culberson(R-TX)Carlos Curbelo(R-FL)Ron DeSantis(R-FL)Jeff Denham(R-CA)Scott DesJarlais(R-TN)Ted Deutch(D-FL)Mario Diaz-Balart(R-FL)Daniel Donovan(R-NY)Jeff Duncan(R-SC)Neal P. Dunn(R-FL)Tom Emmer(R-MN)Eliot Engel(D-)Adriano Espaillat(D-NY)Blake Farenthold(R-TX)John J. Faso(R-NY)Mike Ferguson(R-NJ)Brian Fitzpatrick(R-PA)Bill Flores(R-TX)Lois Frankel(D-FL)Trent Franks(R-AZ)Matt Gaetz(R-FL)Mike Gallagher(R-WI)Thomas A. Garrett Jr.(R-VA)Bob Gibbs(R-OH)Louis Jr. Gohmert(R-TX)Bob Goodlatte(R-VA)Paul Gosar(R-AZ)Josh Gottheimer(D-NJ)Kay Granger(R-TX)Tom Graves(R-GA)Glenn S. Grothman(R-WI)Karen Handel(R-GA)Gregg Harper(R-MS)Andy Harris(R-MD)Vicky Hartzler(R-MO)Alcee Hastings(D-FL)Jody B. Hice(R-GA)French Hill(R-AR)George Holding(R-NC)Trey Hollingsworth(R-IN)Duncan Hunter(R-CA)Will Hurd(R-TX)Evan Jenkins(R-WV)Bill Johnson(R-OH)Mike Johnson(R-LA)Walter Jr Jones(R-NC)James Jordan(R-OH)David Joyce(R-OH)John Katko(R-NY)Trent Kelly(R-)Steven King(R-IA)Adam Kinzinger(R-IL)Steve Knight(R-CA)David Kustoff(R-TN)Doug LaMalfa(R-CA)Leonard Lance(R-NJ)Frank Lobiondo(R-NJ)Billy Long(R-MO)Barry Loudermilk(R-GA)Blaine Luetkemeyer(R-MO)Thomas MacArthur(R-NJ)Kenny Ewell Marchant(R-TX)Tom Marino(R-PA)Brian J. Mast(R-FL)Michael McCaul(R-TX)Tom McClintock(R-CA)Donald A. McEachin(D-VA)Patrick McHenry(R-NC)David McKinley(R-WV)Cathy McMorris Rodgers(R-WA)Martha McSally(R-AZ)Mark Meadows(R-NC)Patrick Meehan(R-PA)Grace Meng(D-NY)Luke Messer(R-IN)Alex Mooney(R-WV)Markwayne Mullin(R-OK)Tim Murphy(R-PA)Kristi Noem(R-SD)Ralph Norman(R-SC)Steven Palazzo(R-MS)Frank Pallone Jr(D-NJ)Gary Palmer(R-AL)Erik Paulsen(R-MN)Steve Pearce(R-NM)Scott Perry(R-PA)Robert Pittenger(R-NC)Ted Poe(R-TX)John Lee Ratcliffe(R-TX)James Renacci(R-OH)Kathleen Rice(D-NY)Tom Rice(R-SC)David "Phil" Roe(R-TN)Todd Rokita(R-IN)Francis Rooney(R-FL)Ileana Ros-Lehtinen(R-FL)Peter Roskam(R-IL)Dennis Ross(R-FL)Keith Rothfus(R-PA)David Rouzer(R-NC)Ed Royce(R-CA)Steven Russell(R-OK)Brad Schneider(D-IL)David Schweikert(R-AZ)Austin Scott(R-GA)Pete Sessions(R-TX)Jason Smith(R-MO)Chris Smith(R-NJ)Lamar Smith(R-TX)Lloyd Smucker(R-PA)Elise Stefanik(R-NY)Steve Stivers(R-OH)Thomas R. Suozzi(D-NY)Claudia Tenney(R-NY)Mac Thornberry(R-TX)Patrick Tiberi(R-OH)Scott Tipton(R-CO)Dave Trott(R-MI)Michael Turner(R-OH)David Valadao(R-CA)Ann Wagner(R-MO)Tim Walberg(R-MI)Greg Walden(R -OR)Mark Walker(R-NC)Jackie Walorski(R-IN)Mimi Walters(R-CA)Debbie Wasserman-Shultz(D-FL)Randy K. Weber(R-TX)Daniel Webster(R-FL)Roger Williams(R-TX)Joe Wilson(R-SC)Robert Wittman(R-VA)Kevin Yoder(R-KS)Ted Yoho(R-FL)David Young(R-IA)Don Young(R-AK)Lee Zeldin(R-NY)

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