National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. TORRES of California. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chair, my amendment would maintain congressional oversight over certain weapons sales and ensure that dangerous weapons do not end up in the wrong hands.

Whatever our views on firearm policy may be, we should all be able to agree that putting more firearms in the wrong hands would make the world a lot more dangerous.

Since the passage of the Arms Export Control Act in 1976, the State Department has overseen licensing authority for exporting deadly weapons, supported by congressional oversight authority.

Under Republican Presidents and Democratic Presidents alike, this has been the system in place, so the experts who spend their lives monitoring hotspots around the world can put U.S. national security interests first, and not profits for weapons manufacturers.

That is why many Members have expressed concern about the Trump administration's plan to change our firearm export licensing system.

Under the administration's plan, firearms and other items in categories 1, 2, and 3 of the United States Munitions List would move from the Commerce Control List. That may sound like a technical change, but it would have real world consequences.

Congress would lose oversight over sales, preventing this body from objecting to sales that could harm national security or lead to human rights violations.

We would also be taking licensing authority for exporting deadly weapons away from the State Department and giving it to the Commerce Department, without any clear evidence that Commerce has the expertise or capacity to handle this new responsibility.

This amendment would stop that plan from going forward.

To be clear, this amendment would not prevent the export of firearms. This amendment would not create any new restrictions on firearms exports.

This amendment would simply keep the status quo in place so we can focus our efforts on strengthening the current system.

When it comes to keeping firearms out of the hands of terrorists and drug cartels, we should err on the side of caution.

That is what this amendment does.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. TORRES of California. Madam Chair, it is true that parts and components for military equipment have been moved to the CCL. However, none of the items previously transferred from the USML to the CCL were complete weapons that would allow a soldier to aim and fire on a target.

The Obama administration did not move, or even propose to move, firearms and ammunition. They saw what happened at Newtown and knew that we needed to be cautious about these weapons.

If the administration's proposal goes through, it would be the first time that the Commerce Department was put in charge of licensing for lethal weapons designed to kill people. This is not business as usual.

Voting ``yes'' on this amendment will prevent this administration from going beyond what the Obama administration chose to do by ensuring that exports of firearms and ammunition remain under the jurisdiction of the State Department, with congressional oversight.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. TORRES of California. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. TORRES of California. Madam Chair, no one here is arguing against firearm exports, and no one here is trying to place new restrictions on manufacturers. What we are asking is to keep the system we have so that Congress can continue to do its job and make sure that deadly weapons don't end up in the wrong hands.

Madam Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source