“First, it creates the potential for dangerous ground-to-air missiles getting in the hands of ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. Several months ago, as this bill was being crafted, I and many of my colleagues voted for an amendment that would have prohibited the Department of Defense from transferring any Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPAD) to fighters in Syria. In the wrong hands, these dangerous weapons are capable of shooting American planes out of the sky. The final bill that passed today allows for the transfer of MANPADs, with some weak restrictions, which could allow terrorist groups to get ahold of them and use them against the United States and our allies.
“Second, the bill reauthorizes and extends the Syria train and equip program for two years. When the Department of Defense brought this program to Congress two years ago, I strongly opposed it due to a weak vetting process, and counterproductive objectives. As predicted, the program turned out to be a failure, and resulted in the United States wasting hundreds of millions of dollars, arming poorly vetted groups who—instead of fighting against ISIS, al-Qaeda, or other terrorist groups—ended up joining these terrorist groups in their battle to overthrow the Syrian government.
