H.R. 4490 · 119th Congress

PARTNER Act

Introduced on Jul 17, 2025 by Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20). 8 cosponsors, 3 of them from another party. Latest action (Sep 3, 2025): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Jul 17, 2025
Cosponsors
8
3 from the other party
Policy area
International Affairs
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the International Organizations Immunities Act to extend diplomatic privileges and immunities to certain additional international and regional organizations, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • ASEAN countries
  • Africa
  • Caribbean area
  • Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
  • Government liability
  • International law and treaties
  • International organizations and cooperation

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Jul 17, 2025). Public domain.

Providing Appropriate Recognition and Treatment Needed to Enhance Relations Act or the PARTNER Act

This bill authorizes the President to extend diplomatic immunities and privileges provided by the International Organizations Immunities Act, including immunity from certain lawsuits and exemption from property taxes, to specified international regional and research organizations.

Specifically, the bill authorizes the President to extend these immunities and privileges to

  • the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional organization with 10 members including Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam;
  • the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional organization with 18 members including Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea;
  • the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a regional organization with 15 members and 6 associate members including Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia; and
  • the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), an international research organization focused on particle physics.

The bill also authorizes the President to extend to the permanent observer mission of the African Union to the United Nations the privileges and immunities provided to permanent missions to the United Nations of member states.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Joaquin CastroD-TX-20Sponsor

Democrats · 5

Republicans · 3

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jul 17, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Jul 17, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Jul 17, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
  4. Jul 22, 2025 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  5. Jul 22, 2025 · HouseOrdered to be Reported by Voice Vote.
  6. Sep 2, 2025 · HouseMr. Baumgartner moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
  7. Sep 2, 2025 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H3734-3736)
  8. Sep 2, 2025 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 4490.
  9. Sep 2, 2025Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3734)
  10. Sep 2, 2025 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3734)
  11. Sep 2, 2025 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  12. Sep 2, 2025 · HouseThe title of the measure was amended. Agreed to without objection.
  13. Sep 3, 2025 · SenateReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. FermiForward Discovery Group, LLC1 report
    $40K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: FERMI FORWARD DISCOVERY GROUP, LLC$774.3M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%

Reports filed in 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.