Sec. 2. Findings
270 words·~1 min read·
/bill/113/hr/5648/ih/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: From the $2,400,000,000 in total United States multilateral funding for the Syrian humanitarian crisis, the United States Government has provided $268,000,000 to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. As of August 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are more than 600,000 registered Syrian refugees in Jordan. Jordan estimates that more than 800,000 unregistered refugees are in Jordan living outside of refugee camps, assimilated into local communities, which would bring the total to approximately 1,400,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.
In February 2014, President Obama announced that the United States and Jordan will renew the non-binding memorandum of understanding that was signed in 2008 to provide assistance to Jordan over a 5-year period that reinforces the commitment to broaden cooperation and dialogue between the two countries in a variety of areas. In 2000, the United States and Jordan signed a free-trade agreement that went into force in 2001. In 1996, the United States granted Jordan major non-NATO ally status.
Jordan is suffering from the Syrian refugee crisis and the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Government of Jordan was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council beginning in January 2014 and terminating in December 2015. Enhanced support for defense cooperation with Jordan is important to the national security of the United States, including through creation of a status in law for Jordan similar to the countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, Israel, and New Zealand, with respect to consideration by Congress of foreign military sales to Jordan.