On the last day of the year, there has been an attempt to allow President Obama to send, for free, two U.S. frigates to Turkey. This has been receiving bi-partisan opposition in the House of Representatives because Turkey, over the past year, has used their navy to threaten Israel and Cyprus and to forcefully aid Hamas.
Other frigates were being offered up to Mexico and Thailand for no cost. In addition, Taiwan would be allowed to purchase four frigates.
The DOD has offered up these transfers as a matter of "national security interests." The argument is that the bill has been available for examination for two weeks [during the time the Congress has been away or working on the fiscal cliff issues].
After debate, the Chairman called for a voice vote to suspend normal rules so that this bill could be passed. The vote passed with at least a dozen aye votes and a couple of nay votes.
In another voice vote, the House passed H.R. 6649, a bill authorizing the transfer of 10 frigates to U.S. allies Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey. There was some debate over whether two of these frigates should be given to Turkey given that country's recent posture toward Europe, but despite this opposition, no one asked for a recorded vote on the bill. [source]That's how things get done in Obama's world. Full debate and mark-up through committee for renaming post offices; abbreviated debate with no committee mark-up and most members absent for important foreign affairs votes. And Turkey gets to expand its navy to further threaten Israel and aid terrorists.
US TO DONATE TWO FRIGATES TO TURKEY
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