Home USA Trump’s Lawmakers move to halt Saudi arms sale after contentious hearing

Trump’s Lawmakers move to halt Saudi arms sale after contentious hearing

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Face of Nation :Washington-A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced new legislation Wednesday that would halt the Trump administration’s push to circumvent Congress and expedite $8.1 billion in arms sales to Gulf countries by declaring an emergency.

The bill was announced shortly after a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill during which House lawmakers grilled a top State Department official over the Trump administration’s policy on selling weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia without congressional approval.Proposed by California Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu and Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash, the joint resolution “would reject all 22 sales the Administration is attempting to ram through under a phony emergency declaration,” according to a statement released by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat.

In May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally told lawmakers of the administration’s plan to use a pre-existing rule that would allow it to expedite arms sales to allies in the Middle East

“The emergency declaration is nothing more than an egregious abuse of power by an Administration that doesn’t like being told, ‘No.’ There is no emergency, but there is a conflict in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians with US-made weapons and a Congress that is tired of being complicit,” Lieu said in a statement.

“The Trump Administration knows that these sales would not meet that standard, so they decided to declare a fake emergency in order to bypass Congress. It’s a tactic they’ve used before. This legislation sends a strong signal that we will not tolerate the Trump Administration’s blatant abuse of power,” he added.

Rhode Island Democratic Rep. David Cicilline also voiced his frustration over the administration’s decision-making, specifically with regards to its policy on Saudi Arabia.
“Aiding and abetting Saudi Arabia’s horrific attacks on civilians in Yemen is unconscionable. We should demand better from countries that purport to be our allies,” he said. “The President is once again trying to circumvent the law to do something the American people oppose. Congress needs to step up and prevent this from happening.”
The latest legislative rebuke against the Trump administration’s emergency declaration came hours after State Department Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper was grilled by lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Cooper argued that an emergency declaration was necessary to not only address threats posed by Iran but also to send a message of support to US partners in the region.
“These sales and the associated emergency certification are intended to address the military need of our partners in the face of an urgent regional threat posed by Iran; promote the vitality of our bilateral relationships by reassuring our partners; and preserve strategic advantage against near-peer competitors,” he testified.
But those comments were ill received by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who challenged Cooper’s assertion that the emergency declaration was warranted.

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