has rapidly expanded, now possessing greater fund-
ing, more personnel, and heavier weapons than any 
other terrorist force. 
(2) ISIL has threatened to continue attacking 
United States persons and interests and has an 
apocalyptic vision for a larger confrontation with the 
United States and its allies in the Middle East. 
(3) According to the United States intelligence 
community, approximately 20,000 to 30,000 ISIL 
fighters operate in Iraq and Syria, an estimated 
3,000 of which are believed to have western pass-
ports. 
(4) ISIL finances itself through looting, smug-
gling, taxes, oil sales, kidnapping, and human traf-
ficking. 
(5) According to United States officials, ISIL 
captured approximately 1,500 Humvees, a number 
of other modern armored vehicles and transport 
trucks, over 50 long-range Global Positioning Sys-
tem (GPS)-guided artillery pieces, a substantial 
number of artillery shells, a large quantity of small 
arms, approximately 4,000 heavy machine guns, and 
other weapons from the Iraqi Security Forces in 
June 2014, and has also reportedly captured a num-
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ber of other weapons and vehicles from Bashar al- 
Assad’s forces in Syria. 
(6) The rapidly deteriorating humanitarian sit-
uation in Iraq caused by ISIL advances in Iraq and 
Syria has resulted in approximately 1,500,000 refu-
gees and internally displaced people from Syria and 
Iraq taking refuge in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. 
The Kurdistan Regional Government is facing a hu-
manitarian and budget crisis while defending itself 
from ISIL. 
(7) 
The 
Kurdistan 
Regional 
Government 
(KRG) is the democratically elected government of 
the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, and Iraqi Kurds have 
been a reliable and stable partner of the United 
States. 
(8) The Iraqi constitution guarantees the right 
of Iraqi regions, such as Iraqi Kurdistan, to main-
tain ‘‘internal security forces for the region such as 
police, security forces, and guards of the region’’. 
(9) The Kurdish Peshmerga forces are officially 
organized under the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs 
and commanded by the Minister of Peshmerga, who 
reports to the President of the Kurdistan Regional 
Government. 
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(10) ISIL has positioned its forces along a 650- 
mile border with the Kurdistan Regional Govern-
ment’s Peshmerga forces. 
(11) ISIL has employed captured armored vehi-
cles, long-range artillery, and heavy weapons in at-
tacking thinly stretched Kurdish forces along the 
border. 
(12) United States airstrikes against ISIL tar-
gets have helped stall the terrorist organization’s ad-
vance on territory held by Kurdish forces, but have 
not proven to be militarily decisive against ISIL. 
(13) The United States and its allies have pro-
vided the resupply of various small arms and train-
ing to Peshmerga forces since June 2014. 
(14) Such resupply efforts, to comply with 
United States law, must be approved and coordi-
nated through the Government of Iraq. In the initial 
phase of the resupply effort, the Government of Iraq 
constrained and delayed the emergency supply of 
weapons to the Kurdistan Regional Government. 
(15) The Peshmerga forces lack battle-ready ar-
mored vehicles and the ability to take significant of-
fensive action against ISIL forces, leading to re-
quests for such assistance. 
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(16) Armored vehicles, anti-armor weapons, 
long-range artillery, and other weapons are con-
sistent with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s 
constitutional right to defend itself against the clear 
and present danger posed by ISIL. 
(17) A strong Peshmerga force is essential to 
countering the ISIL threat to Iraq, the region, and 
United States interests. 
(18) The longer ISIL’s sanctuary remains 
largely unchallenged, the more time it will have to 
reinforce its positions, and plan attacks against 
United States interests. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and the 
Levant (ISIL) is critical to maintaining a unified 
Iraq in which all faiths and ethnicities are afforded 
equal protection and full integration into the Iraqi 
government and society; 
(2) the people of Kurdistan face an urgent and 
deadly threat from ISIL which the Iraqi Security 
Forces, of which the Peshmerga are a component, 
are currently unable to match in armaments; 
(3) any outstanding issues between the Govern-
ment of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Govern-
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ment should be resolved by the two parties expedi-
tiously to allow for a resumption of normal relations; 
and 
(4) ISIL’s recent advances and continued 
growth present an imminent threat to Iraqi 
Kurdistan, the rest of Iraq and the Middle East, 
and international security. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States to directly 
provide the Kurdistan Regional Government with ad-
vanced conventional weapons, training, and defense serv-
ices, on an emergency and temporary basis, to more effec-
tively partner with the United States and other inter-
national coalition members to defeat the Islamic State in 
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 
SEC. 4. TEMPORARY EMERGENCY AUTHORIZATION OF DE-
FENSE ARTICLES, DEFENSE SERVICES, AND 
RELATED 
TRAINING 
DIRECTLY 
TO 
THE 
KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President should consult with 
the Government of Iraq in carrying out the authority pro-
vided in subsection (b). 
(b) AUTHORIZATION.— 
(1) MILITARY ASSISTANCE.—The President is 
authorized to provide defense articles, defense serv-
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