S.3273 - American Allies Protection Act
S. 3273 was introduced on November 20, 2025 by Senator Ted Budd (R-NC). It is currently pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and has no co-sponsors.
Related legislation:
Bill Summary: S. 3273, the American Allies Protection Act, establishes penalties for U.S. states and local governments that cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) by arresting, detaining, or depriving the liberty of certain foreign officials. S. 3273 prohibits the Attorney General from awarding, renewing, or extending federal grants for four years to any state, territory, the District of Columbia, or local jurisdiction whose officials arrest or assist in the arrest of a current or former foreign government official from a NATO member state or a Major Non-NATO Ally based solely on an ICC warrant or process. The bill includes a national security waiver allowing the Attorney General to continue grant funding if the President certifies to relevant congressional committees that such cooperation with the ICC is essential to U.S. national security interests and provides a detailed justification.
Context: The bill follows public statements suggesting that U.S. local governments could cooperate with ICC arrest warrants against foreign officials, specifically in regards to questions about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who have been indicted by the ICC in connection with Israel’s internationally recognized genocide in Gaza. According to Senator Ted Budd’s press release, S. 3273 is specifically motivated to protect Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu following Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election and his campaign statement to comply with the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. Currently, no other U.S. NATO and non-NATO U.S allies and partners have been indicted for war crimes or crimes against humanity. Furthermore, S. 3273 does not acknowledge that U.S. cities and states lack independent legal authority to arrest or extradite foreign officials without federal involvement. Extradition and enforcement of international arrest warrants fall squarely within federal jurisdiction, making the underlying scenario the bill purports to address largely impossible. As a result, S. 3273 does not meaningfully regulate conduct that states and localities are legally capable of engaging in, but instead creates a discretionary punishment regime for political signaling related to international justice.
Despite this, S. 3273 grants the executive branch broad discretion to penalize states and local jurisdictions for actions that could be interpreted as assisting or otherwise depriving the liberty of a covered foreign official at the expense of the legislative branch's power of the purse. The bill does not clearly define what constitutes actionable cooperation, raising concerns that symbolic actions, such as statements, correspondence, or administrative coordination, could be construed as triggering severe funding penalties as the bill does not reference current extradition laws. This vagueness creates the potential for arbitrary or politically motivated enforcement by the executive to punish constitutionally protected speech from political adversaries that question Israeli actions or those of any U.S. partners accused of crimes against humanity or war crimes.
American Values Analysis: S. 3273 runs counter to American values by undermining pathways to justice without acknowledging current U.S. law while expanding the authority of the executive branch to financially penalize local jurisdictions based on political beliefs circumventing Congress’s oversight.
American Interest Analysis: This bill is contrary to the American interest because it creates punitive federal policy around a largely hypothetical local enforcement scenario, while expanding executive authority to withhold federal funds based on vague standards of assistance with ICC actions. By doing so, it introduces legal uncertainty for states and local governments and risks politicized enforcement that could undermine coherent U.S. foreign policy and alliance management.
A New Policy’s Recommendation: OPPOSE
A New Policy opposes S. 3273 because it expands executive power over congressionally allocated funds while claiming to protect Netanyahu from extradition that under current U.S. law is not possible without federal authorization and established treaties. The bill damages America’s global reputation and attacks the first amendment rights of politically protected speech from elected officials that agree with the ICC warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
For more information please contact: Josh Paul, (202) 770-0055, info@anewpolicy.org
