II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4537 

To provide for congressional oversight of proposed changes to arms sales 

to Israel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 13, 2024 

Mr. RISCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To provide for congressional oversight of proposed changes 

to arms sales to Israel, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Maintaining Our Iron5 clad Commitment to Israel’s Security Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) In 2016, the Obama administration con9 cluded negotiations with Israel for a 10-year memo10 randum of understanding to provide security assistVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Aug 07, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4537.IS S4537

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1 ance to Israel for the period of fiscal years 2019 

2 through 2028 that affirmed ‘‘the unshakeable com3 mitment of the United States to Israel’s security’’. 

4 (2) In May 2024, the Biden administration de5 layed shipment to Israel of 1,800 2,000-pound 

6 bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs in an effort to 

7 apply political pressure to the Government of Israel. 

8 The decision to delay such shipment was made with9 out consulting with or notifying Congress and de10 spite repeated public assurances that the United 

11 States-Israel relationship was ‘‘ironclad’’ and that 

12 there was ‘‘no change in policy’’. 

13 (3) On May 8, 2024, President Biden stated, 

14 with respect to Israel, ‘‘We’re not going to supply 

15 the weapons and artillery shells.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

17 It is the sense of Congress that— 

18 (1) Israel has a right to defend itself, which in19 cludes the need for offensive capabilities to deter 

20 and defeat threats, including threats posed by Iran 

21 and its terrorist proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the 

22 Houthis; 

23 (2) previously negotiated and approved United 

24 States arms sales to Israel should proceed, and all 

25 pauses should be lifted, to ensure that Israel is propVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Aug 07, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4537.IS S4537

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1 erly equipped to defend itself and defeat threats, in2 cluding threats posed by Iran and its terrorist prox3 ies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis; and 

4 (3) limiting or otherwise delaying the sale or 

5 delivery of United States-made defense articles to 

6 Israel runs counter to the commitments the United 

7 States made to Israel as part of the 2016 memo8 randum of understanding and undermines regional 

9 security, including prospective advances in Israel10 Saudi normalization. 

11 SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF PROPOSED 

12 CHANGES TO ARMS SALES TO ISRAEL. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President may not take any 

14 action to pause, suspend, delay, or abrogate the delivery 

15 of covered defense articles and defense services to Israel, 

16 including as part of a policy review, unless, not less than 

17 15 legislative days prior to such action, the President pro18 vides to the appropriate committees of Congress the notifi19 cation described in (b) relating to such pause, suspension, 

20 delay, or abrogation in unclassified form, with a classified 

21 annex as necessary. 

22 (b) NOTIFICATION DESCRIBED.—The notification de23 scribed in this subsection is a notification relating to a 

24 pause, suspension, delay, or abrogation of the delivery of 


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1 covered defense articles and defense services, which shall 

2 include the following: 

3 (1) An identification of the end user of the cov4 ered defense articles and defense services concerned. 

5 (2) A detailed description of the type of covered 

6 defense articles and defense services concerned, in7 cluding the date on which Congress was notified of 

8 the transfer of such covered defense articles and de9 fense services. 

10 (3) A policy justification for the pause, suspen11 sion, delay, or abrogation and a description of the 

12 potential impact such action may have on United 

13 States national security interests. 

14 (4) An identification of conditions for lifting the 

15 pause, suspension, delay, or abrogation, a statement 

16 as to whether such conditions will be communicated 

17 to the Government of Israel, and the timeline for 

18 meeting such conditions. 

19 (5) A description of the sources of funds used 

20 to provide the covered defense articles and defense 

21 services concerned, including an identification of ap22 propriations accounts, as applicable. 

23 (6) An identification of any bilateral agreement 

24 or memorandum of understanding related to the auVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Aug 07, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4537.IS S4537

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1 thority to provide the covered defense articles and 

2 defense services concerned. 

3 (7) An assessment as to whether the pause, 

4 suspension, delay, or abrogation would adversely af5 fect the qualitative military edge of Israel over mili6 tary threats to Israel. 

7 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON9 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con10 gress’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

12 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

13 Senate; and 

14 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

15 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

16 of Representatives. 

17 (2) QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE.—The term 

18 ‘‘qualitative military edge’’ has the meaning given 

19 such term in section 36(h)(3) of the Arms Export 

20 Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776(h)(3)). 

21 SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW. 

22 (a) LIMITATION ON ACTIONS DURING INITIAL CON23 GRESSIONAL REVIEW PERIOD.—During the 15-legislative24 day period following the submission of a notification de25 scribed in section 4(b), the President may not take any 


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1 action to pause, suspend, delay, or abrogate the delivery 

2 of covered defense articles and defense services to Israel 

3 described in such notification. 

4 (b) LIMITATION ON ACTIONS AFTER INTRODUCTION

5 OF A JOINT RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL.—If a joint 

6 resolution of disapproval relating to a notification de7 scribed in section 4(b) is introduced, the President may 

8 not take any action relating to the pause, suspension, 

9 delay, or abrogation of the delivery of the covered defense 

10 articles and defense services described in such notification 

11 for a period of 10 legislative days, unless the joint resolu12 tion sooner passes both Houses of Congress. 

13 (c) LIMITATION ON ACTIONS DURING PRESIDENTIAL

14 CONSIDERATION OF A JOINT RESOLUTION OF DIS15 APPROVAL.—If a joint resolution of disapproval relating 

16 to notification described in section 4(b) passes both 

17 Houses of Congress, the President may not take any ac18 tion relating to the pause, suspension, delay, or abrogation 

19 of the delivery of the covered defense articles and defense 

20 services described in such notification for a period of 12 

21 legislative days after the date of passage of the joint reso22 lution of disapproval, unless the President sooner vetoes 

23 the joint resolution of disapproval. 

24 (d) LIMITATION ON ACTIONS DURING CONGRES25 SIONAL RECONSIDERATION OF A JOINT RESOLUTION OF


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1 DISAPPROVAL.—If the President vetoes the joint resolu2 tion of disapproval, the President may not take the action 

3 described in such notification for a period of 10 legislative 

4 days after the date of the President’s veto, unless the joint 

5 resolution sooner fails of passage on reconsideration in ei6 ther House. 

7 (e) EFFECT OF ENACTMENT OF A JOINT RESOLU8 TION OF DISAPPROVAL.—If a joint resolution of dis9 approval relating to notification described in section 4(b) 

10 is enacted into law, the President may not take any action 

11 relating to the pause, suspension, delay, or abrogation of 

12 the delivery to Israel of the covered defense articles and 

13 defense services described in such notification for a period 

14 of 180 days, at which point, the President shall submit 

15 a new notification relating to any such action. 

16 (f) JOINT RESOLUTIONS OF DISAPPROVAL.— 

17 (1) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term 

18 ‘‘joint resolution of disapproval’’ means only a joint 

19 resolution of either House of Congress— 

20 (A) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘A joint 

21 resolution disapproving the President’s proposal 

22 to pause, suspend, delay, or abrogate the deliv23 ery of covered defense articles and defense serv24 ices to Israel.’’; and 


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1 (B) the sole matter after the resolving 

2 clause of which is the following: ‘‘Congress dis3 approves of the action relating to pause, sus4 pend, delay, or abrogate the delivery of covered 

5 defense articles and defense services to Israel 

6 proposed by the President in the notification 

7 described in section 4(b) of the Maintaining 

8 Our Ironclad Commitment to Israel’s Security 

9 Act on lllll relating to lllll.’’, 

10 with the first blank space being filled with the 

11 appropriate date and the second blank space 

12 being filled with a short description of the pro13 posed action. 

14 (2) INTRODUCTION.—During the period of 15 

15 legislative days provided for under subsection (a), a 

16 joint resolution of disapproval may be introduced— 

17 (A) in the House of Representatives, by 

18 the majority leader or the minority leader; and 

19 (B) in the Senate, by the majority leader 

20 (or the majority leader’s designee) or the mi21 nority leader (or the minority leader’s des22 ignee). 

23 (3) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN HOUSE OF REP24 RESENTATIVES.— 


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1 (A) REPORTING AND DISCHARGE.—If a 

2 committee of the House of Representatives to 

3 which a joint resolution of disapproval has been 

4 referred has not reported the joint resolution 

5 within 5 legislative days after the date of refer6 ral, that committee shall be discharged from 

7 further consideration of the joint resolution. 

8 (B) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 

9 Beginning on the third legislative day after 

10 each committee to which a joint resolution has 

11 been referred reports the joint resolution to the 

12 House or has been discharged from further con13 sideration thereof, it shall be in order to move 

14 to proceed to consider the joint resolution in the 

15 House. All points of order against the motion 

16 are waived. Such a motion shall not be in order 

17 after the House has disposed of a motion to 

18 proceed on the joint resolution. The previous 

19 question shall be considered as ordered on the 

20 motion to its adoption without intervening mo21 tion. The motion shall not be debatable. A mo22 tion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 

23 is disposed of shall not be in order. 

24 (C) CONSIDERATION.—The joint resolution 

25 shall be considered as read. All points of order 


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1 against the joint resolution and against its con2 sideration are waived. The previous question 

3 shall be considered as ordered on the joint reso4 lution to final passage without intervening mo5 tion except 2 hours of debate equally divided 

6 and controlled by the sponsor of the joint reso7 lution (or a designee) and an opponent. A mo8 tion to reconsider the vote on passage of the 

9 joint resolution shall not be in order. 

10 (4) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.— 

11 (A) COMMITTEE REFERRAL.—A joint reso12 lution of disapproval introduced in the Senate 

13 shall be referred to the Committee on Foreign 

14 Relations. 

15 (B) REPORTING AND DISCHARGE.—If the 

16 Committee on Foreign Relations has not re17 ported the joint resolution within 5 legislative 

18 days after the date of referral of the joint reso19 lution, that committee shall be discharged from 

20 further consideration of the joint resolution and 

21 the joint resolution shall be placed on the ap22 propriate calendar. 

23 (C) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 

24 Notwithstanding Rule XXII of the Standing 

25 Rules of the Senate, it is in order at any time 


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1 after the Committee on Foreign Relations re2 ports a joint resolution of disapproval to the 

3 Senate or has been discharged from consider4 ation of such a joint resolution (even though a 

5 previous motion to the same effect has been dis6 agreed to) to move to proceed to the consider7 ation of the joint resolution, and all points of 

8 order against the joint resolution (and against 

9 consideration of the joint resolution) are 

10 waived. The motion to proceed is not debatable. 

11 The motion is not subject to a motion to post12 pone. A motion to reconsider the vote by which 

13 the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not 

14 be in order. 

15 (D) RULINGS OF THE CHAIR ON PROCE16 DURE.—Appeals from the decisions of the Chair 

17 relating to the application of the rules of the 

18 Senate, as the case may be, to the procedure re19 lating to a joint resolution of disapproval shall 

20 be decided without debate. 

21 (E) CONSIDERATION OF VETO MES22 SAGES.—Debate in the Senate of any veto mes23 sage with respect to a joint resolution of dis24 approval, including all debatable motions and 

25 appeals in connection with the joint resolution, 


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1 shall be limited to 10 hours, to be equally di2 vided between, and controlled by, the majority 

3 leader and the minority leader or their des4 ignees. 

5 (5) RULES RELATING TO SENATE AND HOUSE

6 OF REPRESENTATIVES.— 

7 (A) COORDINATION WITH ACTION BY

8 OTHER HOUSE.—If, before the passage by one 

9 House of a joint resolution of that House, that 

10 House receives a joint resolution from the other 

11 House, then the following procedures shall 

12 apply: 

13 (i) The joint resolution of the other 

14 House shall not be referred to a com15 mittee. 

16 (ii) With respect to a joint resolution 

17 of the House receiving the legislation— 

18 (I) the procedure in that House 

19 shall be the same as if no joint resolu20 tion had been received from the other 

21 House; but 

22 (II) the vote on passage shall be 

23 on the joint resolution of the other 

24 House. 


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1 (B) TREATMENT OF A JOINT RESOLUTION

2 OF OTHER HOUSE.—If one House fails to intro3 duce a joint resolution under this section, the 

4 joint resolution of the other House shall be en5 titled to expedited floor procedures under this 

6 section. 

7 (C) TREATMENT OF COMPANION MEAS8 URES.—If, following passage of the joint resolu9 tion in the Senate, the Senate then receives a 

10 companion measure from the House of Rep11 resentatives, the companion measure shall not 

12 be debatable. 

13 (D) APPLICATION TO REVENUE MEAS14 URES.—The provisions of this paragraph shall 

15 not apply in the House of Representatives to a 

16 joint resolution of disapproval that is a revenue 

17 measure. 

18 (6) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

19 AND SENATE.—This subsection is enacted by Con20 gress— 

21 (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 

22 of the Senate and the House of Representa23 tives, respectively, and as such is deemed a part 

24 of the rules of each House, respectively, and suVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Aug 07, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4537.IS S4537

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1 persedes other rules only to the extent that it 

2 is inconsistent with such rules; and 

3 (B) with full recognition of the constitu4 tional right of either House to change the rules 

5 (so far as relating to the procedure of that 

6 House) at any time, in the same manner, and 

7 to the same extent as in the case of any other 

8 rule of that House. 

9 SEC. 6. DEFINITION OF COVERED DEFENSE ARTICLES AND 

10 DEFENSE SERVICES. 

11 In this Act, the term ‘‘covered defense articles and 

12 defense services’’ means any defense article or defense 

13 service provided under the authority of any of the fol14 lowing: 

15 (1) Section 3 of the Arms Export Control Act 

16 (22 U.S.C. 2753). 

17 (2) Section 22 of the Arms Export Control Act 

18 (22 U.S.C. 2762). 

19 (3) Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act 

20 (22 U.S.C. 2776). 

21 (4) Section 38 of the Arms Export Control Act 

22 (22 U.S.C. 2778). 

23 (5) Section 506 of the Foreign Assistance Act 

24 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2318). 


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1 (6) Section 614 of the Foreign Assistance Act 

2 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2364). 

Æ 


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