To permit the transfer of United States defense articles and defense services among the Baltic states.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 8817 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8817 To permit the transfer of United States defense articles and defense services among the Baltic states. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 14, 2026 Ms. Johnson of Texas (for herself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Keating, Mr. Bacon, and Mr. Carbajal) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To permit the transfer of United States defense articles and defense services among the Baltic states. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Facilitating Operational Readiness Through Inter-Baltics Flexibility Act'' or the ``FORTIFY Act''. SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. It is the sense of Congress that-- (1) the Baltic states play an important role in deterring aggression by the Russian Federation due to the strategic geographic location of the Baltic states in relation to-- (A) the ongoing war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation; and (B) the Russian Federation's increasing interest in Europe overall; and (2) if the Baltic states were given standing permission and the capability to use the defense articles and services of each other Baltic state, and were provided the training to do so, the Russian Federation would likely assume that the entire combined fleet in the Baltic states could operate at any time anywhere in the Baltic region, which would significantly complicate Russian Federation planning and enhance deterrence at no cost. SEC. 3. PERMISSION TO TRANSFERS UNITED STATES DEFENSE ARTICLES AND DEFENSE SERVICES AMONG BALTIC STATES. (a) Exemptions From Requirement for Consent To Transfer.--