President Trump has been bragging about the massive Saudi Arabia arms deal since he got back from last week’s overseas trip, with a contract in hand for $110 billion in immediate sales, and in excess of $350 billion over the decade. First he’s going to have to fight Congress, however.
The ever-worsening humanitarian crisis in Saudi-invaded Yemen, and the very real concerns that the US supply of arms is being seen international as tacit involvement have led to a minority of figures in Congress, but a growing one, opposing previous arms deals.
This time, resolutions are already in the works in both the House and Senate, with an eye toward blocking parts of the sale that are particularly related to the Yemen War. Growing encourage from human rights groups and skepticism about making the Saudis, with their sketchy human rights record, recipients of a record US arms sale, are likely to add to the pressure to vote against the sale.
The Senate resolution, coauthored by Sens. Rand Paul (R – KY), Chris Murphy (D – CT), and Al Franken (D – MN) aims to forbid the provision of bombs to the Saudis and service by US companies on certain Saudi warplanes. The House version, from Reps. Ted Lieu (D – CA) and Ted Yoho (R – FL) aims to block the sale of guided munitions to the Saudis, the kind that President Obama had previously frozen sales of at the end of his term in office.
Those wishing to contact their Senators in support of Sens. Paul, Murphy, and Franken’s resolution can find contact information here. Those wishing to support Reps. Lieu and Yoho can find contact information for their Representative here.
Can’t believe that Al Franken is on the right side for a change.
Amen, Mary. I had contributed $25 to Amash the other day, though I’m not his constituent so couldn’t send him a thank you note. I will call.
I sent my Rep. Walz (D-MN CD1) a note telling him that 1) I gave $ to Amash but 2) don’t give $ to Walz because he never saw a military appropriation he didn’t like and 3) asked him to cosponsor Amash’s HJR102. I just made a small contribution to Franken and sent him a note thanking him.
Franken’s campaign website also makes a big deal of Citizens United, and I thanked him for that as well and his cosponsor of SJR 8. In general, I’ve been disappointed with Franken, but he’s on the right track with these two issues.
Tim Walz used to be my congressman until I moved out of MN three and a half years ago. I hear he’s running for governor of MN since he almost got beat by Jim Hagedorn in the last election. You are right about Walz.
Rand Paul? He may be against the arms sale but he is for the scorching of the Earth by global warming due to CO2 in the atmosphere. Both are killers. What a hypocrite this man is.