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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1188 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1188

    To provide for a temporary, emergency authorization of defense 
   articles, defense services, and related training directly to the 
         Kurdistan Regional Government, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 5, 2015

Mrs. Ernst (for herself, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Graham, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Paul, 
and Mr. Rubio) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To provide for a temporary, emergency authorization of defense 
   articles, defense services, and related training directly to the 
         Kurdistan Regional Government, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The terrorist organization known as the Islamic State 
        of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a grave threat to the 
        people and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, as well as 
        regional stability, and to the national security interests of 
        the United States and its allies and partners.
            (2) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant holds 
        significant territory in Iraq and Syria, has stated its 
        intention to seize more territory, and has demonstrated the 
        capability to do so.
            (3) Leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 
        have stated that they intend to conduct terrorist attacks 
        internationally, including against the United States, its 
        citizens, and its interests.
            (4) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has committed 
        despicable acts of violence and mass executions against 
        Muslims, regardless of sect, who do not subscribe to its 
        depraved, violent, and oppressive ideology, and has threatened 
        genocide and committed vicious acts of violence against 
        religious and ethnic minority groups, including Iraqi 
        Christian, Yezidi, and Turkmen populations.
            (5) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has targeted 
        innocent women and girls with horrific acts of violence, 
        including abduction, enslavement, torture, rape, and forced 
        marriage.
            (6) According to United States intelligence estimates, 
        approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Islamic State of Iraq and the 
        Levant fighters operate in Iraq and Syria, an estimated 3,000 
        of whom are believed to hold passports from western countries.
            (7) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant finances its 
        operations primarily through looting, smuggling, taxes, oil 
        sales, kidnapping, and human trafficking.
            (8) President Barack Obama articulated five lines of effort 
        in the campaign to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the 
        Levant, including supporting regional military partners, 
        stopping the flow of foreign fighters, cutting off the access 
        of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to financing, 
        addressing urgent humanitarian needs, and exposing the true 
        nature of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
            (9) As a result of advances by the Islamic State of Iraq 
        and the Levant in Iraq and Syria, approximately half of the 
        nearly 2,000,000 refugees and internally displaced people from 
        Syria and Iraq have taken refuge in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region 
        in northern Iraq.
            (10) The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the 
        democratically elected government of the Iraqi Kurdistan 
        Region, and Iraqi Kurds have been a reliable, stable, and 
        capable partner of the United States, particularly in support 
        of United States military and civilian personnel during 
        Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.
            (11) The Iraqi constitution guarantees the right of Iraqi 
        regions, such as the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, to maintain 
        ``internal security forces for the region such as police, 
        security forces, and guards of the region''.
            (12) The Kurdish Peshmerga forces are officially organized 
        under the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs and commanded by the 
        Minister of Peshmerga Affairs, who reports to the President of 
        the Kurdistan Regional Government.
            (13) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has 
        positioned its forces along a 650-mile border spanning five 
        Iraqi provinces and engaged in attacks on Peshmerga forces 
        defending the border.
            (14) The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has employed 
        captured armored vehicles, long-range artillery, and heavy 
        weapons in attacking Kurdish forces along the border.
            (15) Kurdish Peshmerga forces have successfully retaken key 
        areas of Iraq formerly controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq 
        and the Levant, including Mount Sinjar, Mosul Dam, and Kirkuk.
            (16) The United States and its allies have provided the 
        resupply of various arms (including Hellfire missiles, anti-
        tank weapons, helmets and body armor, and ammunition) and 
        training to Peshmerga forces since June 2014.
            (17) Such resupply efforts, to comply with United States 
        law, must be approved and coordinated through the Government of 
        Iraq.
            (18) Masrour Barzani, the Chancellor of the Kurdistan 
        Region Security Council, described Peshmerga forces as 
        ``overstretched'' in the fight against the Islamic State of 
        Iraq and the Levant, and Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the 
        representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the 
        United States, has expressed concern about ``shortfalls'' in 
        equipment.
            (19) According to the Kurdistan Regional Government, more 
        than 1,000 Kurdish Peshmerga and Kurdish security forces have 
        been killed, and more than 5,000 have been wounded.
            (20) A strong Peshmerga force is essential to countering 
        the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to Iraq, 
        the region, and United States interests.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses 
        an acute threat to the people and territorial integrity of 
        Iraq, including the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, and the security 
        and stability of the Middle East and the world;
            (2) defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is 
        critical to maintaining a unified Iraq in which all faiths, 
        sects, and ethnicities are afforded equal protection and full 
        integration into the Government and society of Iraq; and
            (3) any outstanding issues between the Government of Iraq 
        and the Kurdistan Regional Government should be resolved by the 
        two parties expeditiously to allow for a resumption of normal 
        relations.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States to directly provide Kurdistan 
Regional Government military and security forces associated with the 
Government of Iraq with defense articles, defense services, and related 
training, on an emergency and temporary basis, to more effectively 
partner with the United States and other international coalition 
members to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

SEC. 4. TEMPORARY EMERGENCY AUTHORIZATION OF DEFENSE ARTICLES, DEFENSE 
              SERVICES, AND RELATED TRAINING DIRECTLY TO THE KURDISTAN 
              REGIONAL GOVERNMENT.

    (a) Authorization.--
            (1) Military assistance.--The President, in consultation 
        with the Government of Iraq, is authorized to provide defense 
        articles, defense services, and related training directly to 
        Kurdistan Regional Government military and security forces 
        associated with the Government of Iraq for the purpose of 
        supporting international coalition efforts against the Islamic 
        State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or any closely related 
        successor group.
            (2) Defense exports.--The President is authorized to issue 
        licenses authorizing United States exporters to export defense 
        articles, defense services, and related training directly to 
        the Kurdistan Regional Government military and security forces 
        described in paragraph (1). For purposes of processing 
        applications for such export licenses, the President is 
        authorized to accept End Use Certificates approved by the 
        Kurdistan Regional Government.
            (3) Types of assistance.--Assistance authorized under 
        paragraph (1) and exports authorized under paragraph (2) may 
        include anti-tank and anti-armor weapons, armored vehicles, 
        long-range artillery, crew-served weapons and ammunition, 
        secure command and communications equipment, body armor, 
        helmets, logistics equipment, excess defense articles and other 
        military assistance that the President determines to be 
        appropriate.
    (b) Relationship to Existing Authorities.--
            (1) Relationship to existing authorities.--Assistance 
        authorized under subsection (a)(1) and licenses for exports 
        authorized under subsection (a)(2) shall be provided pursuant 
        to the applicable provisions of the Arms Export Control Act (22 
        U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
        U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), notwithstanding any requirement in such 
        applicable provisions of law that a recipient of assistance of 
        the type authorized under subsection (a)(1) shall be a country 
        or international organization. In addition, any requirement in 
        such provisions of law applicable to such countries or 
        international organizations concerning the provision of end use 
        retransfers and other assurance required for transfers of such 
        assistance shall be secured from the Kurdistan Regional 
        Government.
            (2) Construction as precedent.--Nothing in this section 
        shall be construed as establishing a precedent for the future 
        provision of assistance described in subsection (a) to 
        organizations other than a country or international 
        organization.
    (c) Reports.--
            (1) Initial report.--Not later than 45 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a report that includes the 
        following:
                    (A) A timeline for the provision of defense 
                articles, defense services, and related training under 
                the authority of subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2).
                    (B) A description of mechanisms and procedures for 
                end-use monitoring of such defense articles, defense 
                services, and related training.
                    (C) How such defense articles, defense services, 
                and related training would contribute to the foreign 
                policy and national security of the United States, as 
                well as impact security in the region.
                    (D) An accounting of the defense articles provided 
                to the Government of Iraq or the Kurdistan Regional 
                Government that have come to be possessed, or are 
                suspected of having come to be possessed, by foreign 
                terrorist organizations or groups known as ``popular 
                mobilization forces'', or other militia groups, that 
                are supported by the Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran 
                or other entities of the Government of the Islamic 
                Republic of Iran, which accounting shall include the 
                following:
                            (i) A description of the circumstances 
                        leading to the transfer of such defense 
                        articles to the Government of Iraq or the 
                        Kurdistan Regional Government
                            (ii) A description of the circumstances 
                        surrounding the possession of such defense 
                        articles by groups described in this 
                        subparagraph.
                            (iii) A description and assessment of the 
                        use and battlefield impacts of such defense 
                        articles by such groups.
            (2) Updates.--Not later than 90 days after the submittal of 
        the report required by paragraph (1), and every 90 days 
        thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate 
        congressional committees a report updating the previous report 
        submitted under this subsection. In addition to any matters so 
        updated, each report shall include a description of any delays, 
        and the circumstances surrounding such delays, in the delivery 
        of defense articles, defense services, and related training to 
        the Kurdistan Regional Government pursuant to the authority in 
        subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2).
            (3) Form.--Any report under this subsection shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
        annex.
            (4) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``appropriate 
        congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
                Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed 
                Services, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of 
                the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee 
                on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, and 
                the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
                House of Representatives.
    (d) Notification.--The President should provide notification to the 
Government of Iraq before providing defense articles, defense services, 
or related training to the Kurdistan Regional Government under the 
authority of subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2).
    (e) Additional Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``defense 
article'', ``defense service'', and ``training'' have the meanings 
given those terms in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 
U.S.C. 2794).
    (f) Termination.--The authority to provide defense articles, 
defense services, and related training under subsection (a)(1) and the 
authority to issue licenses for exports authorized under subsection 
(a)(2) shall terminate on the date that is 3 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>
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