Congress removes 40-year ban on federal spending in Israeli territories
H.R. 4983 — KOTEL Act · Filed by Michael Lawler (R-NY) · Introduced Aug 15, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill repeals Section 414 of the 1986 Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act, which currently prohibits the use of federal funds for site acquisition, development, or construction of facilities in Israel, Jerusalem, or the West Bank. Repealing this prohibition would allow the U.S. government to spend federal money on construction and development projects in those territories.
Why we flagged it
The bill is a narrow repeal of a spending restriction on a specific geographic region, functioning as a foreign-policy authorization that removes a prior constraint on executive discretion to allocate funds. It is not a direct appropriation but an enabling mechanism.
What the text implies
- The bill does not appropriate funds; it only removes a legal barrier. Actual spending would require separate appropriations, meaning the civic impact depends on future congressional budget decisions.
- Repealing the prohibition may signal a shift in U.S. foreign policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the bill itself contains no policy statement or conditions on how funds may be used.
- The acronym 'KOTEL' (Keeping Official Territories Eligible for Land-use) appears designed to reference the Western Wall (Kotel in Hebrew), suggesting symbolic intent beyond the mechanical repeal.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill removes a spending restriction, which may enable U.S. diplomatic or development initiatives but also commits federal resources to a geopolitically contested region where spending decisions carry significant foreign-policy and budgetary trade-offs. The civic impact depends on how the newly-permitted funds are deployed and whether Congress appropriates money for such purposes—the bill itself does not mandate spending, only removes the legal barrier.
Who stands to gain
- construction contractors operating in Israel/Jerusalem/West Bank
- U.S. government agencies with diplomatic or development missions in the region
Named in the bill
Section 414, Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986, Israel, Jerusalem, West Bank, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Congress
Where it stands
- Aug 15, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 15, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Foreign Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (229 characters) on Aug 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress removes 40-year ban on federal spending in Israeli territories” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr4983 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.