[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5607-S5608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 6082. Mr. MURPHY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe)
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2023 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 F of title XII, add the following:
SEC. 1276. TRANSFER OF EXCESS OLIVER HAZARD PERRY-CLASS
GUIDED-MISSILE FRIGATES TO EGYPT.
(a) In General.--The President is authorized to transfer to
the Government of Egypt the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-
missile frigates ex-USS CARR (FFG-52) and ex-USS ELROD (FFG-
55) on a grant basis under section 516 of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j) on or after the date
on which the President submits to the appropriate committees
of Congress a certification described in subsection (b).
(b) Certification.--The certification described in this
subsection is a certification of the President of the
following:
(1) The President has received reliable assurances that the
Government of Egypt and any Egyptian state-owned
enterprises--
(A) are not knowingly engaged in any activity subject to
sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through
Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9401 et seq.), including an activity
related to Russian Su-35 warplanes or other advanced military
technologies; and
(B) will not knowingly engage in activity subject to
sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through
Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9401 et seq.) in the future.
(2) The Egyptian crews participating in training related to
and involved in the operation of the vessels transferred
under this section are subject to the requirements of section
620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2378d),
section 362 of title 10, United States Code, and other
relevant human rights vetting to ensure that United States-
funded assistance related to the transfer of the vessels
under this section are not provided to Egyptian security
forces that have committed gross violations of
internationally recognized human rights or other documented
human rights abuses.
(3) The Government of Egypt is no longer unlawfully or
wrongfully detaining United States nationals or lawful
permanent residents, based on criteria that may include--
(A) the detained individual has presented credible
information of factual innocence to United States officials;
(B) information exists that the individual is detained
solely or substantially because he or she is a citizen or
national of the United States;
(C) information exists that the individual is being
detained in violation of internationally protected rights and
freedoms, such as freedom of expression, association,
assembly, or religion;
(D) the individual is being detained in violation of the
laws of the detaining country;
(E) independent nongovernmental organizations or
journalists have raised legitimate questions about the
innocence of the detained individual;
(F) the United States embassy in the country in which the
individual is detained has received credible reports that the
detention is a pretext;
(G) police reports show evidence of the lack of a credible
investigation;
(H) the individual is detained in a country in which the
Department of State has determined in its annual human rights
reports that the judicial system is not independent or
impartial, is susceptible to corruption, or is incapable of
rendering just verdicts;
(I) the individual is detained in inhumane conditions; and
(J) the international right to due process of law has been
sufficiently impaired so as to render the detention
arbitrary.
(c) Violations.--The President may not transfer a vessel
under this section unless the Government of Egypt agrees that
if any condition described in subsection (b) is violated
after the transfer of the vessel, the Government of Egypt
will re-transfer the
[[Page S5608]]
vessel to the United States at the sole cost to the
Government of Egypt, without using United States funds,
including United States foreign military assistance funds.
(d) Grants Not Counted in Annual Total of Transferred
Excess Defense Articles.--The value of a vessel transferred
to the Government of Egypt under this section shall not be
counted against the aggregate value of excess defense
articles transferred in any fiscal year under section 516 of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j).
(e) Costs of Transfers.--Any expense incurred by the United
States in connection with the transfer of a vessel under this
section shall be charged to the Government of Egypt
notwithstanding section 516(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j(e)).
(f) Repair and Refurbishment in United States Shipyards.--
To the maximum extent practicable, the President shall
require, as a condition of the transfer of a vessel under
this section, that the Government of Egypt have such repair
or refurbishment of the vessel as is needed, before the
vessel joins the naval forces of Egypt, performed at a
shipyard located in the United States, including a United
States Navy shipyard.
(g) Expiration of Authority.--The authority to transfer a
vessel under this section shall expire at the end of the
three-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(h) Required Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days before the transfer
of a vessel under this section, the President shall submit to
the appropriate committees of Congress a report describing
the following:
(A) The specific operational activities and objectives
intended for the vessel upon receipt by the Government of
Egypt.
(B) A detailed description of how the transfer of the
vessel will help alleviate United States mission requirements
in the Bab el Mandeb and the Red Sea.
(C) A detailed description of how the transfer of the
vessel will complement Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) mission
goals and activities, including those of Combined Task Forces
150, 151, 152, and 153.
(D) A detailed description of incidents, during the five-
year period immediately preceding the date of such transfer,
of arbitrary detention, violence, and state-sanctioned
harassment by the Government of Egypt against United States
citizens, individuals in the United States, and their family
members who are not United States citizens, in both Egypt and
in the United States, and a determination as to whether such
incidents constitute a pattern of acts of intimidation or
harassment.
(E) A description of policy efforts to ensure that United
States security assistance programs with Egypt are formulated
in a manner that will avoid identification of the United
States, through such programs, with governments that deny to
their people internationally recognized human rights and
fundamental freedoms, in accordance with section 502B of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304).
(2) Form.--The report required by this subsection shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a separate
classified annex.
(i) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this
section, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress''
means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Armed Services of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Armed Services of the House of Representatives.
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