HR1263-119

Passed House

To require a strategy for bolstering engagement and cooperation between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan and to seek to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer cooperation on shared interests and values.

119th Congress Introduced Feb 12, 2025

Summary

What This Bill Does

The Strengthening the Quad Act states congressional support for deeper cooperation among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan on a free, open, inclusive, resilient, and healthy Indo-Pacific. It requires the Secretary of State to submit a Quad strategy to the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees within 180 days, covering democratic leadership, current and past Quad initiatives, technology cooperation, energy innovation, climate, infrastructure, education, disaster management, critical minerals supply chains, global health security, security cooperation, intelligence sharing, economic partnerships, multilateral coordination, bureaucratic barriers, and needed authorities or resources. It also directs the Secretary to seek negotiations with Australia, India, and Japan to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group.

Who Benefits and How

The Department of State, U.S. Indo-Pacific diplomats, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Australia, India, Japan, Indo-Pacific infrastructure partners, critical-minerals supply-chain planners, and democracy and maritime-security advocates benefit from a formal strategy and parliamentary channel for sustained Quad coordination. The working group gives Congress a regular structure for engagement with legislators from the other Quad countries.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of State, State Department regional bureaus, U.S. embassies in Australia, India, and Japan, congressional leadership, House and Senate foreign-affairs staff, ethics committees, members appointed to the U.S. Group, and administrative staff must prepare the strategy, negotiate a written agreement, appoint up to 24 members, organize annual meetings, manage gifts or donated services, certify expenses, and report travel and meeting costs.

Key Provisions

  • States congressional support for expanded Quad cooperation on Indo-Pacific security, public health, cyberspace, critical technologies, counterterrorism, infrastructure, disaster relief, maritime issues, and democratic resilience.
  • Requires a State Department Quad strategy within 180 days for the appropriate congressional committees.
  • Requires the strategy to describe current and past initiatives, barriers, recommendations, needed authorities, and needed resources.
  • Directs the Secretary of State to seek negotiations with Australia, India, and Japan to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group.
  • Creates a U.S. Group of up to 24 Members of Congress if a written agreement is reached.
  • Requires annual meetings when possible and governs leadership appointments, gifts, expense certification, and reports.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Requires a State Department strategy within 180 days for strengthening Quad cooperation among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan and directs the Secretary of State to seek negotiations to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group with a 24-member U.S. congressional delegation.

Key Policy Areas

Foreign Affairs, Indo-Pacific, National Security, Congressional Operations

Primary Purpose

Requires a State Department strategy within 180 days for strengthening Quad cooperation among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan and directs the Secretary of State to seek negotiations to establish a Quad Inter-Parliamentary Working Group with a 24-member U.S. congressional delegation.

Policy Domains

Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific National Security Congressional Operations

Substantive provisions

Identified Gains
  • Department of State
  • U.S. Indo-Pacific diplomats
  • House Foreign Affairs Committee
  • Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  • Australia
  • India
  • Japan
  • Indo-Pacific infrastructure partners
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
India: , ,
Japan: , ,
Australia: , ,
Department of State: , ,
U.S. Indo-Pacific diplomats: , ,
House Foreign Affairs Committee: , ,
Senate Foreign Relations Committee: , ,
Indo-Pacific infrastructure partners: , ,
Identified Costs
  • Secretary of State
  • State Department regional bureaus
  • U.S. embassies in Quad countries
  • Congressional leadership
  • House foreign-affairs staff
  • Senate foreign-relations staff
  • Ethics committees
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
Ethics committees: , ,
Secretary of State: , ,
Congressional leadership: , ,
House foreign-affairs staff: , ,
Senate foreign-relations staff: , ,
U.S. embassies in Quad countries: , ,
State Department regional bureaus: , ,

Legislative Progress

Passed House
Introduced Committee Passed
May 20, 2025

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign …

May 20, 2025 (inferred)

Passed House (inferred from eh version)

Feb 12, 2025

Mr. Meeks (for himself, Mrs. Kim, Mr. Bera, Mr. Huizenga, …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
8 mentions across 3 clauses
+3 positive -5 negative

Department of State, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Members of Congress appointed to U.S. Group

House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee face effects in multiple directions

Positive-direction: U.S. International Development Finance Corporation

Negative-direction: Department of State, Members of Congress appointed to U.S. Group, Secretary of State

Foreign Entities
6 mentions across 2 clauses
+6 positive

Australia, India, Japan

3/4
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown
House Roll #132

On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass

Strengthening the Quad Act

Passed
334 Yea 51 Nay 47 Not Voting
May 19, 2025

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific National Security Congressional Operations
Actor Mappings
"quad"
→ Quadrilateral Dialogue among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan.

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology