Frank Pallone: “Let me say that I totally disagree with my colleague, and I do respect him, as he knows, but we are talking about F-16s…”

“Let me say that I totally disagree with my colleague, and I do respect him, as he knows, but we are talking about F-16s and F-16 upgrades. I don't see how the gentleman could say that that is not within the jurisdiction of this committee and the NDAA bill. Clearly, we are talking about military weaponry here. I also point out that what we are seeing in this amendment is basically that this sale or export should not go forward unless the President provides a certification to Congress that such a transfer is in the national interests of the United States and includes a detailed description of concrete steps taken to ensure that such F-16s are not used by Turkey for repeated, unauthorized territorial overflights of Greece. What we are saying here is that we want some detailed analysis of what is going on here. I have to be honest and say that I have heard the President and others in the administration expound upon the F-16 sales and the upgrades and say this is a good idea, but the bottom line is they have not put forward any explanation of how this is in the national interests of the United States or any description of the problems that we face because of Turkey's continued aggression, whether it is in Greece, whether it is in Cyprus, whether it is in Armenia, whether it is in other parts of the Middle East, in Syria, Libya, the list goes on. That is all we are really saying in this amendment, that it is time.…”