Senate Vote on Blocking Trump’s UAE Arms Sale Likely Next Week
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – A top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he expected lawmakers to vote as early as next week on resolutions seeking to block Republican President Donald Trump’s $23bn weapons sale to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
"We are gathering support for it, and I would think some time next week,” Senator Bob Menendez told reporters on Thursday.
Menendez and two other senators – Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican Rand Paul – announced on November 18 that they would introduce measures seeking to halt the effort to sell drones, F-35 aircraft and other weapons systems to the UAE.
The sale includes products from privately held General Atomics, Lockheed Martin Corp F-35s and missiles made by Raytheon.
Menendez said he hoped more Republicans would support the resolutions.
It would take extensive support from members of Trump’s party – who rarely break from the president – to pass the resolutions and override an expected veto from Trump.
UAE ambassador to the United States says his country will be forced to turn elsewhere and acquire the weapons it needs in case Washington refuses to supply the Persian Gulf state with required munitions.
"We would rather have the best U.S. equipment or we will reluctantly find it from other sources, even if less capable,” Yousef al-Otaiba said in a statement on Thursday amid growing opposition and attempts to block the weapons sale to the Arab country.
Otaiba then sought to portray the multi-billion arms deal as an "investment in the U.S.,” pointing out that the agreement would "support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, sustain the U.S. defense industrial base, and lower future U.S. research and development costs.”
The remarks came in response to a Twitter thread published a day earlier by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy in which he pointed to the UAE’s cooperation with Saudi Arabia in an atrocious military campaign against Yemen, where they "have killed thousands of civilians with U.S.-made weapons.”
"In Libya, the UAE is in violation of the international arms embargo. And there’s evidence the UAE has illegally transferred U.S. military equipment to extremist militias in Yemen,” he wrote.
"It begs the question why the U.S. would reward this behavior with a record-setting arms sale agreement. At the very least, we should receive clear, unbreakable assurances that the UAE’s conduct in Libya and Yemen will change. That hasn’t happened,” the Democratic senator pointed out.
Murphy also expressed concerns that the sale could spark an arms race in the Middle East.
Murphy – together with Menendez and Republican senator Rand Paul – announced on November 18 that they would introduce measures seeking to halt the deal that would include advanced F-35 stealth fighters, drones and other weapons systems.
Menendez said he hoped more Republicans would support the resolutions.
"We are gathering support for it, and I would think some time next week,” Senator Bob Menendez told reporters on Thursday.
Menendez and two other senators – Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican Rand Paul – announced on November 18 that they would introduce measures seeking to halt the effort to sell drones, F-35 aircraft and other weapons systems to the UAE.
The sale includes products from privately held General Atomics, Lockheed Martin Corp F-35s and missiles made by Raytheon.
Menendez said he hoped more Republicans would support the resolutions.
It would take extensive support from members of Trump’s party – who rarely break from the president – to pass the resolutions and override an expected veto from Trump.
UAE ambassador to the United States says his country will be forced to turn elsewhere and acquire the weapons it needs in case Washington refuses to supply the Persian Gulf state with required munitions.
"We would rather have the best U.S. equipment or we will reluctantly find it from other sources, even if less capable,” Yousef al-Otaiba said in a statement on Thursday amid growing opposition and attempts to block the weapons sale to the Arab country.
Otaiba then sought to portray the multi-billion arms deal as an "investment in the U.S.,” pointing out that the agreement would "support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, sustain the U.S. defense industrial base, and lower future U.S. research and development costs.”
The remarks came in response to a Twitter thread published a day earlier by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy in which he pointed to the UAE’s cooperation with Saudi Arabia in an atrocious military campaign against Yemen, where they "have killed thousands of civilians with U.S.-made weapons.”
"In Libya, the UAE is in violation of the international arms embargo. And there’s evidence the UAE has illegally transferred U.S. military equipment to extremist militias in Yemen,” he wrote.
"It begs the question why the U.S. would reward this behavior with a record-setting arms sale agreement. At the very least, we should receive clear, unbreakable assurances that the UAE’s conduct in Libya and Yemen will change. That hasn’t happened,” the Democratic senator pointed out.
Murphy also expressed concerns that the sale could spark an arms race in the Middle East.
Murphy – together with Menendez and Republican senator Rand Paul – announced on November 18 that they would introduce measures seeking to halt the deal that would include advanced F-35 stealth fighters, drones and other weapons systems.
Menendez said he hoped more Republicans would support the resolutions.