The White House and Congress are headed for a showdown over President Donald Trump’s massive multibillion-dollar arms package for Saudi Arabia.
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are calling for congressional hearings and scrutiny into the planned arms sale, which Trump finalized during his trip to Saudi Arabia this week.
On his first presidential trip abroad, Trump made his initial stop in Riyadh, where he was lavishly greeted with sword dances and a glowing orb as he penned a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi leadership. Some congressional leaders say the move sent the wrong message to the rest of the world.
Sens. Chris Murphy (D.-Conn.), Al Franken (D.-Minn.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a joint resolution of disapproval for the deal. Under a provision of the Arms Export Control Act, they now have to wait 10 days before bringing their measure to the floor of the Senate.
They hope to block the sale of weapons and equipment to the Royal Saudi Air Force, though it represents only a portion of the total $110 billion arms package.
On the House side, Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) urged the House Foreign Affairs Committee to reconsider selling precision-guided munitions to Riyadh — a sale blocked by former President Barack Obama in December 2016 over civilian casualties in Saudi airstrikes on Yemen. The two lawmakers urged a hearing on the deal before the window for congressional oversight on the sale closed on June 20.
Source: Foreign Policy
