H.R. 2037 would require the Director of National Intelligence to report to the Congress on foreign people who he determines played a role in killing Jamal Khashoggi or obstructed the ensuing investigation. The bill would require the Administration to sanction those foreign people by denying them permission to travel to, enter into, or remain in the United States. Finally, the bill would require the Secretary of State to assess whether the United States should restrict security assistance to Saudi Arabia, to report to the Congress on violations of human rights in Saudi Arabia, and to describe actions taken by the United States to address those violations.
Enacting H.R. 2037 would increase the number of people who would be denied visas by the Department of State. Most visa fees are retained by the department and spent without further appropriation, but some fees are deposited in the Treasury as revenues. However, CBO expects H.R. 2037 would affect very few additional people and thus would have insignificant effects on both revenues and direct spending.
Using information about the costs of similar reports, CBO estimates that satisfying the reporting requirements in H.R. 2037 would cost less than $500,000 over the 2019-2024 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
