National Security and Foreign Affairs
The bipartisan campaign to block American arms sales to Saudi Arabia is growing, both within and outside the government.
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-California, introduced a new bill on Tuesday morning that would block a $1.15 billion U.S. weapons deal with the Saudi regime.
“The reason we’re doing this is because there is now overwhelming evidence that war crimes are being committed in Yemen, and that most of them appear to be done by Saudi Arabia-led air strikes,” Lieu told Salon in an interview on Monday.
Last week, a bipartisan quarter of senators — Rand Paul, Chris Murphy, Al Franken, and Mike Lee — introduced a joint resolution to block the $1.15 billion sale of Abrams tanks and other major defense articles to Saudi Arabia in light of concerns about the kingdom’s actions in Yemen.
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The US House of Representatives unanimously voted Sept. 9 to allow the families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to sue Riyadh in US court, defying President Barack Obama and an army of Saudi lobbyists. The voice vote follows similar action by the Senate in May and sends the bill to Obama, who now has to decide whether vetoing the popular bill is worth the political cost.
The US has offered Saudi Arabia $115 billion worth of arms during Barack Obama’s two terms as president, an anti-war think tank counted, arguing that this should give Washington enough leverage to pressure Riyadh to prevent civilian casualties in Yemen.
Weapons have been sold to Saudi Arabia in 42 separate deals since 2009, William Hartung of the US-based Center for International Policy, a non-profit group that has been advocating demilitarization since 1975, reported on Wednesday.
The Obama administration has offered to sell $115bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia over its eight years in office, more than any previous US administration, according to a new report.
The surge in sales is in part to reassure the Saudi monarchy of US backing in the wake of last year’s nuclear deal with Tehran, which raised fears in the Gulf that Washington would tilt more towards Tehran in its foreign policy.
The pressure on the Obama administration to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia is mounting.
Senators from both sides of the aisle introduced a joint resolution on Thursday, hoping to block a large U.S. arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
S.J.Res 39 was introduced by Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). Explaining their motivation, all four cited the atrocities committed by the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
A bipartisan push against a $1.15 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia is gaining steam in protest of Riyadh’s bombing campaign in Yemen — but remains split on whether to oppose the sale or block it outright.
Multiple congressional aides tell Foreign Policy that Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut are preparing legislation, to be filed this week, opposing the U.S. package of tanks, ammunition, and machine guns to Saudi Arabia.
More than 60 lawmakers in the House are fighting to delay the Obama administration's planned sale of $1.15 billion in arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia, citing the growing number of civilian casualties in Yemen caused by the Saudi-led military coalition.
In a longshot bid to stall the sale, the bipartisan group of 64 House members, led by California Rep. Ted Lieu, has called on the White House to withdraw the request for congressional approval for the sale until Congress can fully debate American military support for the Saudis.