US drops security and military cooperation in revised Tanzania bilateral relations bill

The memorandum says the substitute amendment, offered by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, significantly changes the original bill by preserving security cooperation between Tanzania and the United States.

"The introduced bill cut both security assistance and development finance. The substitute cuts only development finance," the memorandum states, adding that "security and military cooperation are no longer targeted."

The legislation was introduced on May 19 by Senator Shaheen and Senator Ted Cruz following Tanzania's October 2025 general election and subsequent events.

Under the original proposal, the United States would have prohibited both security assistance and development finance support to Tanzania.

The restrictions would have affected financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Export-Import Bank and the Trade and Development Agency.

However, the substitute amendment removes the security assistance provisions while maintaining restrictions on development finance.

The revised bill would also continue to block Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) funding for Tanzania until specified conditions are met.

Another key change is the introduction of a national-interest waiver. Under the substitute amendment, the US Secretary of State would be allowed to waive the assistance and investment restrictions if doing so is deemed to serve US national interests.

The original bill did not contain such a waiver.

The substitute also changes the sanctions mechanism proposed in the legislation. Rather than creating a separate sanctions regime, it would rely on the existing Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to impose measures against individuals found responsible for serious human rights abuses or corruption.

Despite these changes, several core provisions remain unchanged.

The revised bill would still require a comprehensive reassessment of relations between the United States and Tanzania, including a review of Tanzania's military, economic and political ties with China.

It would also require a report identifying senior government, ruling party, police, military and intelligence officials determined to be responsible for or complicit in abuses specified in the legislation.

According to the memorandum, the substitute amendment preserves several of the bill's original objectives while narrowing its scope.

"The substitute preserves the security relationship, gives the US executive discretion through the waiver, and uses an established sanctions framework, while retaining targeted individual sanctions, the development-finance cut-off, the MCC funding block, and the mandatory reassessment," it shared.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to consider the substitute amendment before deciding whether to advance the revised bill.

The memorandum notes that committee approval would not mean the legislation has become law. The bill would still need approval by the full Senate and the House of Representatives before being signed by the President.

If enacted in its current form, security and military cooperation between Tanzania and the United States would continue, alongside humanitarian and health assistance programmes.

Development finance from the DFC, Export-Import Bank and Trade and Development Agency, as well as MCC funding, would remain subject to the restrictions outlined in the legislation.