United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, today, the House is taking up the Senate version of the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act, a bill that passed this Chamber in March with a vote of 410-1. Our vote today will send this important piece of legislation to the President's desk.

I am particularly grateful for the efforts of my colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, notably those by Chairman Ed Royce; by ranking member and my friend, Eliot Engel, for helping to ensure this legislation's passage; by the Senate sponsors, Senator Boxer and Senator Blunt; and by my friend, chairman, and stalwart champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship, chairman emeritus Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

I would also like to offer a special thanks as well to Casey Kustin, in my office; to Eddy Acevedo; and to the entire committee staff, including Matt Zweig and Mira Resnick, who worked so hard to bring this bill to the floor at this moment.

This critical bill enhances the broad cooperation between the United States and Israel on a wide spectrum of issues, and it reflects the simple truth that our bilateral relationship spans not only shared security interests but shared values.

This bill was crafted with particular consideration of the heightened security situation faced by Israel today. This summer's Operation Protective Edge reminds us just how vital and strong U.S. support for Israel can be as the Iron Dome missile defense system saved tens of thousands of lives by taking down hundreds of Hamas rockets aimed at civilians and as the U.S. was able to quickly assist Israel in the resupply of defense articles, so that it could defend its citizens from brutal terror attacks.

The United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act also highlights Israel's significant contributions to the areas of water, irrigation, agriculture, and energy issues by expanding collaborative research efforts. It recognizes that the United States is strengthened by these joint efforts with Israel to tackle shared problems and to advance shared interests.

Through dire security threats and unimaginable hostility from the outside actors, the State of Israel has managed to thrive as an open and free democratic society, and it has prospered into a global leader in research and development in countless fields.

This bill, the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act, sends a clear and a bipartisan message to our ally Israel and to the rest of the world that the U.S.-Israel relationship runs wide and deep, that our commitment to the lasting safety and security of Israel is and always will be unbreakable, and that our work together not only in security but in agriculture, cybersecurity, water, and energy advances the interests of our Nation, as well as those of our great ally.

I urge my colleagues to support the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act.

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