Providing Assistance to Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga Forces

Floor Speech

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Mrs. ERNST. Mr. President, as we continue to fight against ISIS and their radical allies, I rise to urge my colleagues to support the Ernst-Boxer amendment, which provides authority for direct assistance to a critical partner in that fight: the Iraqi Kurds.

Defeating ISIS is critical to maintaining an inclusive and unified Iraq, and the Iraqi Kurds are the key to that goal and helping to improve the humanitarian crisis in the region through their support and protection of over 1.6 million displaced persons from Iraq and Syria.

This bipartisan amendment, also cosponsored by Senators GRAHAM, TILLIS, RUBIO, and GARDNER, provides temporary authority for the President, in consultation with the Iraqi Government--and I say, again, in consultation with the Iraqi Government--to provide weapons directly to Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against ISIS should the administration choose to do so.

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. These delays have had a negative impact on the Kurds' ability to defend Iraqi territory and provide security for those who have sought refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. The President's recent decision to expedite arms to the Kurds as a way to improve the counter-ISIS effort, I believe, speaks for itself.

Additionally, last year, Secretary of State John Kerry said to the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

You said the administration is responsible for sending all these weapons through Baghdad. No, we're not. You are. We're adhering to U.S. law passed by Congress.

Secretary Kerry continued:

We have to send it to the [Iraqi] government because that's U.S. law. If you want to change it, fix it, we invite you.

Well, this amendment does just that, and it does so in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion. It builds upon a similar bill in the House led by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Engel. This bill and my amendment are quite different than the House NDAA language.

My amendment provides a 3-year authorization to reduce delays and inefficiencies in arming Peshmerga forces to fight ISIS while ensuring the Iraqi Government is an integral part of the process. The amendment continues to promote a unified Iraq and enhances the ability to fight our common enemy--an enemy that ultimately seeks to bring their terror to our shores.

Furthermore, the amendment preserves the President's ability to notify the Iraqi Government before weapons, equipment, defense services or related training is provided to Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga 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. Most important to remember, it does not require the President to act. It provides him the authorization to do so if he feels the situation warrants it.

Beginning in the first gulf war, the Iraqi Kurds and their Peshmerga security forces have played a vital role in supporting U.S. interests and fostering a free Iraq, despite limited means of doing so. Last week, they not only held their ground but made some gains against ISIS in the Kirkuk Province. There are far too few positive news stories out of Iraq recently, but when there are some, it is often the Kurds who are making that progress.

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. We simply cannot afford future delays at this critical moment in the battle. I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this much needed bipartisan legislation to arm the Iraqi Kurds in the fight against ISIS.

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