US House passes MEGOBARI Act

After roughly a year of legislative limbo, the US House of Representative passed the MEGOBARI Act on Monday, putting the bill one step closer to becoming law. The act calls for sanctions against the ruling Georgian Dream party for democratic backsliding in the country.

The bill — Mobilising and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence (MEGOBARI, Georgian for ‘friend’) — received overwhelming support across party lines, with 349 members of the House voting in favour and 42 voting against.

It calls for sanctions to be imposed on government officials, business people, and members of law enforcement and the security services responsible for ‘advancing […] Russian-style foreign agent legislation or undermining or suppressing lawful popular or civil society opposition’.

It also reaffirms support for Georgian civil society, and contains provisions to boost bilateral cooperation, as well as liberalise the visa policy for Georgian citizens, if the country’s democratic backsliding is reversed.

The act was first introduced by Republican Representative Joe Wilson amidst widespread protests against Georgia’s controversial foreign agent law in May 2024, and has since been met with bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

Wilson directly attacked the ruling Georgian Dream party on the House floor, calling it ‘illegitimate’ and ‘thugs’, while arguing the Georgian government is subordinate to the ‘America-hating mafia cabal’.

In comments on the floor as the bill was being debated, Republican Representative Brian Mast emphasised it was not an ‘not an attack on the Georgian people’, highlighting the prevalence of pro-US sentiment in Georgia.

‘Unfortunately, our bilateral relationship with Georgia has been eroded by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s moves that mimic Russia’s authoritarian tactics, as well as their rapprochement with China and Iran’, Mast said, arguing that the bill ‘seeks to support [the Georgian people] by punishing rogue officials who are taking them further away from the US’.

Representative Warren Davidson, one of the 34 Republicans who voted against the bill, said it was ‘wrongheaded’ and argued that the ‘American people did not send us here to expand America’s security blanket to more parts of the world. We don’t want to get involved in every conflict we are invited to, and we certainly don’t need to seek out extra ones’.

Davidson cited the ‘America First’ ideology associated with President Donald Trump, saying that while he ‘wish[es] the Georgian people well’, there were more pressing concerns at home.

Previously, in line with his isolationist foreign policy perspective, Davidson was one of nine Republican members of Congress who voted against a resolution condemning Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children.

Several key Democrats also voted against the MEGOBARI Act, including all four members of the so-called ‘squad’, a group of progressive lawmakers in the house — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.

While Georgian Dream officials have made a concerted effort to appeal to Trump, often by invoking his own political rhetoric, the administration’s views on Georgia are mostly unclear.

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OC MediaNate Ostiller