00:00Any further discussion? There being no further discussion of the bill, the
00:04committee will move for consideration of amendments. Does any member wish to offer
00:07an amendment? Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. The clerk
00:13shall distribute the amendment. I'm sorry? Yes. Yes, sure. I'll just use this as an
00:24opportunity to make the point again for members. We're working to make a more
00:29paperless process. So members have, I believe, up until 48 hours within the
00:34markup to get these amendments submitted. If not, you have to bring your own 70
00:40copies of the amendment to distribute. This is an effort to make it painful so
00:44that you all choose to use the digital program instead of printing out 70 copies
00:48for all the members. But for today... We did use the digital program. I just didn't know the number.
00:53Not in the right window of time, but today we're working with everybody. Again, we're
00:57just trying to make the point so people are in the process of it. And we use less
01:00paper in here. So we appreciate it. In that, the clerk shall report the amendment.
01:07Amendment to the amendment and the nature of a substitute to H.R. 4335. Offered by
01:11Mr. Schneider of Illinois. Page one, line eight. Strike it. Strike it is the policy...
01:17Without objection, further reading of the amendment is dispensed with. The
01:20representative is recognized for five minutes on his amendment.
01:23Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And as my colleague Mr. Lawler said, the Abraham Accords were a singular
01:31achievement. The most significant achievement in a move in a very important and dangerous
01:37region towards trying to achieve greater security, prosperity, and peace for all of the people
01:44in the region. The Abraham Accords, for the first time in history, documented the idea that
01:52both Jews and Arabs belong to the same land. That they can share this land and prosper together
02:00if they work together. It opened the door to normalization with countries like the United Arab Emirates,
02:07Bahrain, Morocco, and even Sudan. The Abraham Accords are something that holds out the
02:14promise of, and possibility, of security, prosperity, and peace for the entire region, which is
02:21why I'm proud to be the co-chair of the bipartisan, bicameral Abraham Accords Caucus, joining with
02:28Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, on the very premise that we need to work to
02:35strengthen and expand the Abraham Accords to move it forward. None of the work we do exists
02:42in a vacuum. We are building on prior work. So this amendment would make reference to the
02:49Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2022 by including the policy stated in that legislation,
02:57building upon that work to advance what we're doing here. And that's why we're recommending
03:02this amendment to reference the policy of the IRNA that is already part of the work that we have
03:10done. In addition, we have a hope for peace. We are at a crossroads moment. The attack on Iran's
03:18nuclear program, setting that program back, hopefully paving the way not just to block Iran's
03:24path to nuclear weapon, but to permanently close that path, opens the opportunity for perhaps a
03:30different path. And so the second change recommended with, or would be achieved with this amendment,
03:36would be to note that if there is a time during any period in which the United States does not
03:42maintain diplomatic relations, this would be the policy. But if we can get to that new period,
03:47the policy has the possibility of changing. With that, I yield back. Representative yields back, let me say
03:53that I support the revised amendment. Do any other members seek recognition? Representative Lawler is
03:59recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to thank my colleague, Mr. Schneider, for working with
04:04us on this amendment and happy to support it in furtherance of passage of this legislation. I yield back.
04:12Representative yields back. Do any other members seek recognition?
04:17Being no further discussion, the question now occurs on the amendment offered by Representative
04:21Scheider, number 41. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye.
04:25All those opposed, signify by saying no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it,
04:30and the amendment is agreed to. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment. Okay. We'll get to your number 42 in a second.
04:39Are there any other amendments? I have an amendment at the desk. The clerk shall distribute the amendment,
04:48and the clerk shall designate the amendment, shall report the amendment.
04:51I do have comments.
04:54Clerk shall report.
05:12Amendment to the amendment and the nature of a substitute to H.R. 4335, offered by Mr. Schneider
05:18of Illinois. Add at the end the following new section.
05:21Without objection, further reading of the amendment is dispensed with.
05:25Representatives now recognized for five minutes on the amendment.
05:28Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I'll be very brief. The idea of this amendment is recognizing that
05:33in a region that has history that dates thousands of years, it is appropriate to review and consider
05:40positions that we take as a body here. Recognizing that a generation is at least 20 years, my suggestion
05:48is that this legislation will terminate at the end of our generation or 20 years after the date of
05:55enactment. I yield back. Representative yields back. Do any other members seek recognition?
06:01I seek recognition. Representative Sherman.
06:04I rise in support of the amendment. It's biblically inspired and wise. But I also want to comment on the
06:11bill, which surprisingly, perhaps to some, I oppose. What this bill does is it diminishes the effect of
06:23congressional involvement in deciding whether to export arms to certain countries in the Middle East.
06:30And I have three concerns with it. The first is I like congressional involvement. I like that
06:38involvement to be effective. And to shorten by 15 days either allows a good decision to go forward 15 days
06:49sooner, which is no big deal. It takes years to manufacture these weapons. Or it has the effect of
06:56pulling Congress effectively out of the decision-making process. The second concern I have is that this bill is
07:04based on the idea that our decision as to whether to export weapons to a country in the Middle East
07:10should be based exclusively on that country's relationship with Israel. We have other concerns
07:16in the Middle East, one of which is directly triggered by this bill. I believe the United Arab
07:22Immigrants has entered into the Abrahamic Accords. And so you'd say, well, they meet that standard.
07:32But there's a war in the Middle East, namely the Civil War in Sudan, that has killed
07:36far more people that have died in Israel and the Palestinian territories over the last two years.
07:45That is the war in Sudan. The United Arab Emirates has provided substantial weapons to the Rapid Support
07:54forces, arguably the worst of the factions involved in that civil war. So for us to take Congress out of
08:05the decision as to whether we turn to the UAE and say, you ought to stay out of Sudan's civil war,
08:13you shouldn't be arming the descendants of the Janjaweed who are responsible for the Darfur genocide.
08:25That's a decision that we in Congress should make. And of course, we have to factor in the fact that
08:32the UAE has entered into the Abrahamic Accords with Israel. So there are a number of factors. Congress ought to
08:38consider them. But the biggest reason I oppose this bill is it starts with the idea that you make
08:47the weapons transfer to a particular government, a non-democratic government in most cases,
08:54a government that does not necessarily speak for its people. And then you expect that government to
09:00continue its policies in the future. If this bill had been effective in 1978, then Congress would have
09:09not been in a position to caution against transfers of weapons to the Shah of Iran. And certainly the
09:16Shah of Iran met last century standards for having an Abrahamic Accord agreement. Every weapon that was
09:25transferred to the Shah in 1978 was in the hands of the Ayatollah in 1980. So Congress ought to be
09:35involved in looking at when weapons are transferred to a country independent of the country's reversible
09:45diplomatic stance toward Israel that it has at a particular time with a particular government,
09:51particularly when that government could be swept away. And if a government speaks for the people
09:58of a country, then you expect that governmental decision to stick. If the government is non-democratic,
10:06then when the government is gone, the deal is gone. So I realize that everyone wants to encourage
10:14countries to enter into Abrahamic Accords. And we should do that in every way we can, in trade,
10:22in discussions, by diplomacy. But we should not short circuit the decision of whether weapons are
10:29transferred to some very, you know, some non-democratic regimes. And we should not take Congress out of
10:36that decision, nor should we have that decision be made solely by whether that country has entered into
10:44an accord with Israel, a record which, as I point out, a subsequent government may reverse. So I
10:51appreciate the purpose of this bill, which is to encourage the Abrahamic Accords and other countries
10:57to join that. And I look forward to finding a way to do that that is less dangerous than transferring
11:02highly sophisticated weapon systems to non-democratic regimes without congressional input. And I yield back.
11:07Do any other members seek recognition? Representative Lawler.
11:13Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to comment on the amendment. And I thank my colleague,
11:21Mr. Schneider, for offering it. And I look forward to supporting it in furtherance of passage of this
11:26bill. Thank you.
11:32Representative yields back. Do any other members seek recognition? Seeing none.
11:51Being no further discussion, the question now occurs on the amendment offered by Representative Schneider,
11:55number 42. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, signify by saying no.
12:01In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
12:07Are there any further amendments?
12:11Seeing none. Being no further amendments, I move that the committee report HR 4335 as amended to the
12:17House with a favorable recommendation. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.
12:21All those opposed, signify by saying no. No.
12:26In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Mr. Chairman, I ask for a roll call vote.
12:31You're all premature. Sorry. A roll call vote has been requested. Pursuant to the chair's
12:37previous announcement, this vote will be postponed. Thank you all for your requests for a roll call vote.
12:43I called it for Massachusetts, and that was a very brief patch of college.
12:57I got it. All those?!
13:06Yes.
13:09No, no.
13:09No. No. No.
13:11MLfs are on there, no limit?
13:11Okay, no. No. No, no. No. No, no. No. No. No, no. No, no.
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