John Kerry: “I rise to speak about the amendment that has been introduced by the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn. I think it is…”

“I rise to speak about the amendment that has been introduced by the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn. I think it is amendment No. 634. I will take only a few minutes, as I know my colleague from Indiana is waiting, but I do wish to speak to it, if I may. The Senator from Texas has introduced an amendment that takes an unprecedented step in the Senate; that is, the step of actually requiring the President, by mandate--with respect to one weapon system in one singular amendment--to sell a specific weapon to another country. Specifically, the Senator wants to take the unprecedented step of requiring the President of the United States to sell 66 new F-16 fighter aircraft to Taiwan. The amendment mandates the sale of these new aircraft, despite the fact that just yesterday the President and the administration notified Congress of their intention to provide Taiwan with nearly six billion dollars' worth of items in defense goods and services, on top of money they have already provided to Taiwan--including upgrades to Taiwan's current fleet of 145 F-16s. I will stand by my record of 26-plus years of voting for the appropriate defense relationship with respect to Taiwan and China. We have always respected the Taiwan Relations Act, and I think we have consistently stood by Taiwan and kept faith with that act.…”