[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3658-S3659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4585. Mr. CORNYN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2017 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle C of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1224. SALE OF MULTIROLE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT TO BAHRAIN.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Actions taken by the Administration have unduly delayed 
     the export of multirole fighter aircraft to Bahrain.
       (2) Continued defense security cooperation and assistance 
     with Bahrain are critical to regional security and countering 
     the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 
     (ISIS), as well as counterbalancing the influence of Iran and 
     its proxies in the region.
       (3) Bahrain has made several of its military facilities 
     available for use by the United States military to address 
     past and current threats from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, 
     international terrorism, and piracy and smuggling in the Gulf 
     and Arabian Sea.
       (4) Outdated Bahraini F-16 aircraft lack certain 
     capabilities, and this limits their utility in coalition 
     operations.
       (5) For several years, Bahrain has expressed interest in 
     upgrading its existing fleet of 20 F-16 Block 40 aircraft 
     with advanced capabilities, including Active Electronically 
     Scanned Array radars.
       (6) Bahrain submitted formal Letters of Request for these 
     upgrades, as well as for the sale of a comparable number of 
     new F-16 aircraft in November 2015.
       (7) The upgrade and sale of F-16 aircraft to Bahrain will 
     help advance military-to-military cooperation between the 
     United States and Bahrain.
       (8) Recent inroads by European and Russian manufacturers of 
     competitor aircraft in

[[Page S3659]]

     the region have the potential to erode United States 
     military-to-military relations with Bahrain, and these 
     potential erosions deepen regional concerns over United 
     States policy in the Middle East generally and towards Iran 
     specifically.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) a strong bilateral relationship between the United 
     States and Bahrain is critical to maintaining stability in 
     the Middle East, countering the Islamic State of Iraq and 
     Syria, mitigating further terrorist threats, and 
     counterbalancing Iran and its regional proxies;
       (2) Bahrain and the United States share a mutual commitment 
     to regional security, counterterrorism efforts, and related 
     coalition operations; and
       (3) the Bahraini air force needs additional advanced 
     multirole fighter aircraft in order to modernize its fleet 
     and participate in regional security initiatives and counter-
     Islamic State of Iraq and Syria campaigns.
       (c) Sale of Multirole Fighter Aircraft.--The President 
     shall carry out the sale of all pending foreign military 
     sales of F-16 fighter aircraft and related upgrades of 
     existing F-16 aircraft to Bahrain by not later than 30 days 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 ______