Bill orders shutdown of UN refugee agency within one year.
H.R. 9680 — Replace UNRWA with Real Humanitarian Assistance Act · Filed by Michael Lawler (R-NY) · 30 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the Secretary of State to make a plan. The plan must shut down UNRWA, a UN agency. UNRWA runs schools, clinics, and aid programs for refugees. The plan must move this work to other groups. Other groups include host governments or charities within 180 days. The plan must cover money, keeping services running, and talking with other countries. The bill does not cut UNRWA's money itself.
Who it affects
More than 5 million Palestinian refugees get school and health care from UNRWA. Host governments and aid groups might take over UNRWA's work. The U.S. State Department must write and carry out the plan.
One thing to notice
The bill orders UNRWA to shut down but does not say who will pay for new services. If new groups are not ready before UNRWA closes, refugees could lose access to schools and doctors.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
30 cosponsors: 28 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Jul 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 14, 2026 — 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.
Words to know
- UNRWA — A UN agency that gives school, health care, and aid to Palestinian refugees.
- Secretary of State — The top U.S. official who handles relations with other countries.
- host governments — The governments of countries where refugees live.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,229 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 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 2026-09-23.
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