HR 1998 United States House · 119th Congress

Sanction Sea Pirates Act of 2025

HR 1998, the Sanction Sea Pirates Act of 2025, requires the President to impose sanctions on foreign individuals or entities that knowingly engage in piracy, as defined by U.S. law (violating Title 18, U.S. Code). Key mechanisms include freezing assets in U.S. jurisdiction and barring visas or entry for targeted individuals. Exceptions apply for humanitarian aid, international obligations, and national security activities. The bill directly affects foreign pirates and their networks, not U.S. citizens or commercial shipping entities.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Jun 2025

House Passage

Jun 2025

Senate Passage

President

Introduced Mar 10, 2025 Last action Jun 24, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced in House → Engrossed in House · 3 edits · Jun 23, 2025

MINOR

The Engrossed version removes a specific factual finding about a March 2024 hijacking, drops language from the Sense of Congress section that called for sanctioning pirates 'upon identification' and referenced criminal networks, and adds a new exception (subsection g) that explicitly excludes importation of goods from the sanctions authority. The most significant policy change is the new goods-importation carve-out, which narrows the scope of what can be sanctioned.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed in two ways: (1) the Sense of Congress no longer explicitly calls for sanctions upon identification of pirates and their affiliated criminal networks, and (2) a new exception explicitly excludes importation of goods from the sanctions authority, meaning the President cannot use this Act to block imports of goods from sanctioned persons.

SCOPE

Removed finding (5) stating that on March 12, 2024, Somali pirates hijacked a Bangladeshi-flagged ship and took its crew hostage.

Removed Sense of Congress item (2) which stated that high seas pirates and the criminal networks and enterprises affiliated with them should be sanctioned upon identification. This removed the explicit 'upon identification' trigger language and the reference to criminal networks.

Added new subsection (g) creating an exception relating to importation of goods. It states that sanctions authorities under this section do not include the authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods, and defines 'good' as any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, excluding technical data.

Floor votes · House Jun 23, 2025

How they voted

392–14

Passed · 25 other

Total votes 431

Jun 23, 2025

D Democratic212

190 Yea 7 Nay 15

89% Yea

I Independent1

1 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican218

201 Yea 7 Nay 10

92% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jun 24, 2025

Committee

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

upper

Jun 23, 2025

Introduced

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 392 - 14 (Roll no. 172). (text: CR H2845-2846)

lower

Jun 23, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 392 - 14 (Roll no. 172). (text: CR H2845-2846)

lower

Jun 23, 2025

Introduced

Mr. Burchett moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.

lower

Apr 9, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

lower

Mar 10, 2025

Committee

Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

lower

Mar 10, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors