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CONGRESSMAN LIEU LEADS BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO POSTPONE ARMS SALE TO SAUDI ARABIA

August 30, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON - Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) led a bipartisan group of 64 Members of Congress in sending a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to postpone the sale of new arms to Saudi Arabia. The goal is to give Congress sufficient time to debate the merits of the deal in light of the Saudi-led Coalition’s operational conduct in Yemen. The letter is co-led by Reps. Ted Yoho (R-FL), John Conyers (D-MI), and Mick Mulvaney (R-SC). Congressman Lieu has previously raised concerns about the Coalition’s killing of civilians in letters to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last September and to Secretaries John Kerry and Ash Carter in March. He has also introduced legislation to establish new guidelines for weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

QUOTE FROM REP. LIEU:
“The actions of the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen are as reprehensible as they are illegal. The multiple, repeated airstrikes on civilians look like war crimes. Hospitals, schools, and wedding parties are not legitimate military targets. Saudi Arabia is either intentionally targeting civilians or deliberately indifferent in executing its military operations – either case flies in the face of long-standing international standards of conduct. The United States of America should never support such atrocities in any way. They are not only immoral and unlawful, but they seriously harm our national security and moral standing around the world.”

QUOTE FROM REP. YOHO:
“I am concerned with the timing of this notification and believe the people’s representatives in Congress should be given adequate time to scrutinize and debate such sales.”

EXCERPT FROM LETTER:
“The [Saudi’s] military campaign has had a deeply troubling impact on civilians . . . Any decision to sell more arms to Saudi Arabia should be given adequate time for full deliberation by Congress. We are concerned, however, that the timing of this notification during the August congressional recess could be interpreted to mean that Congress has little time to consider the arms deal when it returns from recess within the 30 day window established by law.”

FULL LIST OF CO-SIGNERS:
Amash, Bass, Blumenauer, Beyer, Brownley, Capps, Capuano, Chu, Cicilline, Clark (MA), Cleaver II, Cohen, Conyers, Crowley, Danny Davis, DeFazio, Doggett, Edwards, Ellison, Eshoo, Farr, Gabbard, Grayson, Grijalva, Hastings, Honda, Huffman, Jones, Hank Johnson, Keating, Lee, Lewis, Lieu, Loebsack, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Lujan, Lynch, Nolan, McDermott, McGovern, Moore, Mulvaney, Nadler, Napolitano, Neal, Norton, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne Jr., Peterson, Pingree, Pocan, Polis, Price, Rush, Schakowsky, Tonko, Tsongas, Van Hollen, Watson Coleman, Wilson, Yarmuth, Yoho

ENDORSED BY:
Oxfam, Amnesty International USA, International Christian Concern, Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers), Just Foreign Policy, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, Yemen Peace Project, Human Rights Watch, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Physicians for Human Rights, Christian Solidarity Worldwide – UK, In Defense of Christians, Jubilee Campaign USA, The Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom, International Christian Concern

THE TEXT OF THE LETTER CAN BE FOUND HERE.

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