US House passes bipartisan bill to strengthen Quad engagement
The US House of Representatives on Monday passed a bill asking the Trump Administration to require a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation between the QUAD countries: Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
The Bill (H R 1263), passed by the House of Representatives by 334-51 votes, also seeks to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer cooperation on shared interests and values.
Influential Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks sponsored the bipartisan bill, which was co-sponsored by Indian American Congressman Ami Bera.
The bill notes that the United States should continue to strengthen joint cooperation between the Quad countries to enhance and implement a shared vision to meet regional challenges and promote a free, open, inclusive, resilient, and healthy Indo-Pacific characterized by respect for democratic norms, rule of law, and market-driven economic growth and free from undue influence and coercion.
Observing that the US should expand dialogue and cooperation through the Quad with a range of partners to support peace and prosperity, the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, the peaceful resolution of disputes, and democratic resilience in the Indo-Pacific; the bill applauded Secretary of State Marco Rubio for hosted the Quad Foreign Ministers in Washington, DC on January 21, 2025—his first day in office—underscoring the continued importance of cooperation between the four democracies.
It also said that Quad countries, working through institutions, including the United States International Development Finance Corporation, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and through partnerships with multilateral development banks such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, should finance development and infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific region that are competitive, transparent, and sustainable.
The bill seeks to create a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group, which it says will sustain and deepen engagement between senior officials of the Quad countries on a full spectrum of issues. It would be modelled on the successful and long-standing bilateral inter-parliamentary groups between the US and Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as other formal and informal parliamentary exchanges.
According to the bill, not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the congressional committees a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation with the Quad. This should include a description of how the US intends to demonstrate democratic leadership in the Indo-Pacific through quadrilateral engagement with Australia, India, and Japan on shared interests and common challenges.
(Courtesy: www.5wh.com)
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