A Republican and a Democratic senator join forces on Monday to introduce a bill they hope will check President Donald Trump’s ability to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.
The bill, which will be introduced by Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Todd Young of Indiana, would compel the Senate to vote whenever arms sales and other forms of military support are provided to Saudi Arabia, according to NBC News. Both Murphy and Young are members of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, which gives them a position of credibility when attempting to impose checks on a president’s foreign policymaking powers.
“The process we are setting in motion will allow Congress to weigh in on the totality of our security relationship with Saudi Arabia — not just one arms sale — and restore Congress’s role in foreign policy-making,” Murphy said in a statement.
Young expressed similar views, saying in a statement that “our arms sales to Saudi Arabia demand Congressional oversight. 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.”
This is not the first time that Republicans have joined with Democrats to rebuke the Trump administration’s policies toward Saudi Arabia. Last year, several congressional Republicans slammed Trump for refusing to acknowledge the role of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in ordering the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In March, seven Republican senators aligned with the Senate Democrats to reduce Trump’s war-making powers and end America’s support for a war being led by Saudi Arabia against Yemen, although that bill was eventually overridden by a presidential veto.
The bill by Murphy and Young is a response to a new Trump policy, which would allow certain types of sensitive American weapons technology to be manufactured in Saudi Arabia, according to NBC News:
A controversial arms deal for Arab allies approved by the Trump administration will allow U.S. hi-tech bomb parts to be manufactured in Saudi Arabia, giving Riyadh unprecedented access to a sensitive weapons technology.
The production arrangement is part of a larger $8.1 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan announced two weeks ago. The Trump administration pressed ahead with the sale without congressional approval, declaring an “emergency” based on what it said was a heightened threat from Iran.
“I think that American relationships with Saudi Arabia have always been complicated, from President [Franklin] Roosevelt on,” former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told Salon earlier this year. “We do see them as a country that’s very important to us strategically and in any number of different ways. When during the [President Jimmy] Carter administration and then particularly during the [President Bill] Clinton administration we spent time talking about some of the human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, and we have had issues with that. I think that it’s very… You’ve asked a hard question in terms of, I don’t know why the Yemen thing has not attracted more attention because it really is a huge tragedy. A proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia is being played out on the heads, literally, of the Yemenis.”
She added, “The part that I find truly horrible is that some American military equipment is actually being used in terms of some of the tragedies of shootings and various things that are going on in Yemen. I think that it’s awful that we’re not paying attention to the humanitarian aspect of it.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy