United States-Israel Strategic Partership Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2673, the
U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act. I'd like to note that the
groundwork for this legislation was laid when the House-passed H.R. 938
by a vote of 410-1 in March. I would like to recognize the Gentlewoman
from Florida, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, and the Gentleman from Florida, Mr.
Deutch, for their leadership in authoring that important measure. With
passage of this legislation today, this bill now goes to the
President's desk for his signature.

I also want to thank the Ranking Member of the Committee, the
Gentleman from New York, Mr. Engel, for his assistance in bringing this
legislation to the floor and for his longstanding support for the State
of Israel. Over the past two years, Mr. Engel and I have had the chance
to travel twice to Israel together as Chair and Ranking Member, showing
bipartisan support for the relationship.

We witnessed together the many factors that drive our relationship.
Israel is a pluralistic democracy which includes the freedoms we
cherish: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of
association, freedom of the press, and government by the consent of the
governed.

Our militaries hold combined exercises where they constantly learn
from each other. A key collaboration here has been in missile defense.
Jointly developed and produced by the U.S. and Israeli militaries, the
Arrow defense system, Iron Dome, and David's Sling system--which is
currently under development--will soon be combined to create the
world's most sophisticated missile shields. And given the threats
Israel faces, this is needed now more than ever. This summer, once
again we saw how the Iron Dome helped save innocent Israeli lives,
giving its leaders breathing room and preventing more bloodshed.
Congress can be proud of its role in backing the Iron Dome.

But we must always be working to ensure that our support for Israel
keeps apace with the threats proliferating against the country--from
Iran to Hamas.

That is why today's legislation is important. Once signed into law,
it will expedite the provision of critical security assistance to
Israel by ushering in an expedited licensing regime and increasing the U.S. war reserves stockpile, for Israel to access, if needed. It will also require more frequent and detailed reporting on Israel's Qualitative Military edge--a provision which is the direct result of Mr. Collins' good efforts--so I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his contribution. Finally, the legislation will expand our cooperation with Israel on energy research and development. I urge all Members to support this legislation.

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