National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the chairman.

I rise in strong support of my amendment to renew a 1-year ban on the Obama administration from using any Department of Defense funds to implement the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. This amendment updates and strengthens the language of my amendments that were entered into law in previous NDAAs.

Why? Because this amendment--we must always uphold our fundamental individual right to keep and to bear arms, which is enshrined in our Constitution. We also must uphold the sovereignty of the United States over our arms export control system, which is the gold standard of the world.

Now, how do we do this?

First, the amendment explicitly forbids the use of DOD funds to facilitate domestic prosecutions of individual Americans. This is a real danger because the Obama administration has already engaged in domestic prosecutions of individuals using treaties. This is totally unacceptable.

Second, my amendment specifically bans the use of DOD funds for an ATT secretariat, created for ``effectively implementing'' the ATT, according to the treaty's supporters.

Appallingly and equally unacceptable, ATT backers seek to put the U.S. on the hook to fund the activities of a treaty to which it is not a party.

I thank the chairman and the ranking member for including this amendment in the en bloc amendments. I urge my colleagues to stand with me in support of the Second Amendment, our Nation's sovereignty, and vote in support of this amendment to renew the annual ban on the funding of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

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