The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 26-20 to pass legislation introduced by Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to accelerate the sale and transfer of defense articles to international partners and address arms deals backlogs, Defense News reported Wednesday.
The TIGER Act aims to increase the dollar amount threshold at which the president can approve a defense arms deal without congressional notification from $14 million to $23 million.
If enacted, the legislation would also raise the threshold for the sale of defense articles, modifications and related training and services from $50 million to $83 million.
It would authorize the State Department to use the Department of Defense’s Special Defense Acquisition Fund, a revolving account for foreign military sale procurement.
The bill emerged from the bipartisan Technical, Industrial, and Governmental Engagement for Readiness task force headed by Waltz that aims to reform the U.S. FMS process.
“We should arm our allies and simplify the bureaucracy so they can do the fighting for our interests and less involve the United States,” Waltz said.
