While US lawmakers have been among Tunisia’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, a proposed Tunisian law to more tightly regulate nongovernmental organizations has prompted Congress to issue a rare rebuke against the Arab world’s newest democracy.

Senate appropriators are demanding a report on the Tunisian government’s efforts to pass a bill that would supplant existing NGO regulations and potentially give the government more control over civil society. Buried in the report accompanying the annual Senate foreign assistance bill is language directing the State Department to provide Congress with an assessment of “the content of the proposed NGO law for Tunisia and its implications on the ability of USAID [the US Agency for International Development] and the Department of State to support Tunisian civil society organizations.”

The Senate foreign aid spending panel moved the bill to the full chamber last month. The State Department’s assessment is due 45 days after the bill becomes law.

“It’s another message from Congress to the Tunisian government that while the US remains supportive of Tunisia financially and politically, there are some things that are taking place with this potential revision which could force the US government to re-evaluate its position,” said Andrew Miller, the deputy director for policy at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). The group has an office in Tunisia and opposes the revision.