WASHINGTON — Wednesday night, twelve members of the Illinois congressional delegation – eight Republicans and four Democrats – voted to pass the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.
The four Democrats – Cheri Bustos, Tammy Duckworth, Bill Foster and Dan Lipinski – parted ways with six Democrats that opposed funding the nation's defense system for the next 12 months - Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez, Robin Kelly, Mike Quigley, Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky.
This year’s NDAA included two key amendments authored by Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-06) requiring reporting to Congress on Iran's destructive activities and defending Israel's right to protect herself.
Roskam issued the following statement:
“There is no higher priority than the safety and well-being of the American people. I’m proud to support an NDAA that strengthens and begins to rebuild our nation’s military. We live in an increasingly unstable world and our brave men and women in uniform must have the support and resources to meet any and all threats.
“I’m pleased my colleagues voted to include two amendments I authored to strengthen our commitment to our international partners and keep a close eye on Iran’s malicious activity. The first requires the administration to regularly report to Congress on the steps the president is taking to ensure Israel maintains the capability to defend itself against existential threats. We also significantly boosted funding for critical U.S.-Israel missile defense cooperative programs.
“I’ve been an outspoken opponent of Boeing’s ongoing negotiations to sell airplanes to the Iranian government. This bill now requires the administration to provide Congress with a comprehensive report on Iran’s usage of commercial aircraft for military and terrorist activity. The American people and the aviation industry must fully understand the risks of selling militarily-fungible products like airplanes to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Great American companies should not be complicit in global terror.”
Congressman Roskam's comments on the House floor Wednesday night:
