"Our arms sales to Saudi Arabia demand Congressional oversight," Senator Young said. "This bipartisan resolution simply asks the Secretary of State to report on some basic questions before moving forward with them. The ongoing humanitarian crisis and complicated security environment in Yemen requires our sustained attention and we cannot permit U.S. military equipment to worsen the situation on the ground."
Murphy said the administration "has effectively given a blank check to the Saudis turning a blind eye to the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi and allowing their ballistic missile program to expand," and added: "Congress needs to change how we do business with the Kingdom."
In a vote in March to end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and to curtail presidential war powers, seven Republican senators sided with Democrats to pass the bill. However, Trump vetoed the legislation in May.
The Saudi Deal Must be Stopped
Outsourcing high-tech bomb production to Saudi Arabia is a horrendous idea. Outsourcing defense procurement to any country is bad policy that undercuts our ability to defend ourselves. Outsourcing to an undemocratic, murderous regime, is the worst policy possible, allowing tyrants to use American technology and production techniques to kill civilians and others.
It remains unclear how many more Republicans will join Democratic senators to form a sufficient majority to overcome a future presidential veto on the new resolutions being proposed to stop the Saudi arms deal. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including staunch Trump ally Lindsey Graham, have blasted the arms deal, and senators have announced 22 resolutions against itone for each sale.
Apart from setting up votes on weapons deals for Riyadh, the resolutions would also force the administration to offer a public accounting to Congress on the kingdom's human rights record.
The Trump administration has yet to provide a report to Congress, as required by law, whether Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was personally responsible for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Congress, as a co-equal branch of government, must not allow the Trump Administration to override Congress's power of the purse and its right to declare war.
No president should be allowed to unilaterally declare a phony "emergency" to usurp legislative authority to circumvent the Constitutional separation of powers.
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