[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6234-6235]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FIGHT AGAINST ISIS

  Mrs. ERNST. Mr. President, as we continue to fight against ISIS and 
those radicalized by them, I rise today to urge my colleagues to join 
efforts to provide direct assistance to a critical partner in that 
fight--the Kurdistan Regional Government.
  Yesterday, I joined Senator Barbara Boxer of California to do just 
that. We introduced bipartisan legislation to provide temporary 
authority for the President to provide weapons directly to Iraqi 
Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against ISIS. This legislation 
builds upon a similar bipartisan House effort led by House Foreign 
Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel. The 
bill's 3-year authorization seeks to reduce delays in arming Peshmerga 
forces to fight ISIS, while still maintaining consultation with the 
Iraqi Government.
  Beginning in the first gulf war, the Iraqi Kurds and their Peshmerga 
forces have played a vital role in supporting U.S. interests and a free 
Iraq, despite limited means of doing so.
  Since August 2014, the Kurds have provided sanctuary to nearly 2 
million ethnic and religious minorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, and they 
have been the only force to hold its ground against ISIS in northern 
Iraq.
  Currently, by law, the United States must provide support to the 
Iraqi Kurds through the Iraqi central government in Baghdad, which has 
often not been timely or adequate in the past. This has had a negative 
impact on the Kurds' ability to defend Iraqi territory and provide 
security for those Iraqis and Syrians who have sought refuge in Iraqi 
Kurdistan.
  Last November, Secretary of State John Kerry said that if Chairman 
Royce wanted to change current law--to ``fix it''--that he invited him 
to do so. Well, that is exactly what this legislation does.
  It makes it the policy of the United States to provide direct 
assistance to the Kurdistan Regional Government to combat ISIS. We do 
that because we believe that defeating ISIS is critical to maintaining 
an inclusive and unified Iraq and that the Iraqi Kurds are key in that 
goal, as well as to help to end the humanitarian crisis in Iraq through 
their support of over 1.6 million displaced persons from Iraq and 
Syria.

[[Page 6235]]

  The legislation preserves the President's ability to notify the Iraqi 
Government before weapons, equipment, defense services or related 
training is provided to Iraqi Kurdish forces.
  It ensures this emergency authorization does not construct a 
precedent of providing direct support to organizations other than a 
country or an international organization. Finally, it works toward 
accountability by requiring a report to Congress on U.S. weapons 
provided to the Iraqi Government which have ended up in the hands of 
Iranian controlled and supported Shia militias or foreign terrorist 
groups.
  ISIS is deadly and determined, and Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces--
our critical partner in the fight against ISIS--need U.S. weapons as 
quickly as possible.
  This 3-year authorization would bolster efforts against ISIS, which 
are critical to maintaining a unified and stable Iraq and imperative to 
our national security interests. We simply cannot afford to have future 
delays at this critical moment in the battle.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this much-needed 
legislation to arm the Iraqi Kurds in the fight against ISIS.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.

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