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HR 7649
Introduced Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.

Humanitarian Theft Enforcement Act

To ensure that persons found responsible for the unauthorized diversion or destruction of United States humanitarian assistance are liable to the United States, and for other purposes.

Introduced Feb 23, 2026

Latest action (Mar 26, 2026) Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 45 - 1.

Referred to
Foreign Affairs Committee
Policy area
International Affairs
Issues
Foreign Policy

Summary

This bill establishes that foreign persons or entities determined by the Secretary of State to be responsible for the unauthorized diversion or destruction of United States humanitarian assistance are liable to the United States for the value of that assistance. The Secretary of State is directed to take appropriate steps to recover the value of diverted or destroyed assistance from the responsible parties. Funds recovered are credited to Department of State accounts and remain available for use, or may be transferred to other federal agencies if they funded the original assistance. The Secretary of State may waive liability if determined to be in the national interest.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
1 cosponsor

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Richard Mccormick’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

  • NULL $21,624
  • INFO REQUESTED $18,600
  • CEO $15,700
  • EXECUTIVE $12,900
  • SANKRANTI / VENSAI TECHNOLOGIES $12,505

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Richard Mccormick → · Outside spending →

Actions (4)
  1. Mar 26, 2026 Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 45 - 1. · house
  2. Mar 26, 2026 Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held · house
  3. Feb 23, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. · house
  4. Feb 23, 2026 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • HR 5548 — Fraud Accountability and Recovery Act · Introduced Sep 23, 2025 · Cong. 119 73%
  • HR 4650 — Safe Return Act · Introduced Jul 23, 2025 · Cong. 119 65%
  • HR 8334 — Taxpayer Protection and Somalia Accountability Act of 2026 · Introduced Apr 16, 2026 · Cong. 119 64%
  • HR 7545 — Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act · Introduced Feb 12, 2026 · Cong. 119 64%
  • HR 7642 — GUIDE Act · Introduced Mar 26, 2026 · Cong. 119 64%
  • HR 5300 — Department of State Policy Provisions Act · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Cong. 119 64%

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 23, 2026

Mr. McCormick introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To ensure that persons found responsible for the unauthorized diversion or destruction of United States humanitarian assistance are liable to the United States, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Humanitarian Theft Enforcement Act”.

SEC. 2. HUMANITARIAN THEFT ENFORCEMENT.

(a) Liability.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, any foreign person or entity the Secretary of State determines is responsible for the unauthorized diversion or destruction of United States humanitarian assistance, including humanitarian assistance funded by the United States that is provided by an international organization, is liable to the United States for the value of the assistance the Secretary determines was so diverted or destroyed.

(b) Recovery.—Upon determining that a foreign person or entity is responsible for the unauthorized diversion or destruction of assistance in the manner described in subsection (a), the Secretary of State should take appropriate steps to recover the value of such assistance from the foreign person or entity.

(c) Crediting of Funds.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any funds received by the Secretary of State pursuant to a determination under this section may be credited to an appropriate account of the Department of State and shall remain available until expended. The Secretary of State may transfer such funds to an appropriate account of another Federal department or agency if the diverted or destroyed assistance was funded by such agency.

(d) Waiver.—The Secretary of State may waive any liability incurred pursuant to subsection (a) if the Secretary determines that such a waiver is in the national interest. <all>

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