A bipartisan pair of senators announced late Sunday their plan to introduce a privileged resolution Monday in hopes of using congressional oversight to block U.S. arms sales and other “security” assistance to Saudi Arabia—which, along with the United Arab Emirates, is leading the coalition waging war on Yemen.
“The consequences are clear: the more weapons we sell to Saudi Arabia, the longer the war in Yemen drags on and the more civilians will die as a result of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks by the Saudi-led coalition,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who is cosponsoring the measure with Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), said in a statement.
Murphy explained that “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.”
Young and Murphy are both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will have 10 days to vote on the measure. If the panel does not take action in that time, the pair can then force a floor vote to discharge it and take up the resolution.
The senators’ resolution relies on a section of the Foreign Assistance Act (pdf) that empowers lawmakers to request that the administration deliver to Congress within 30 days a report detailing a country’s human rights record. After receiving the report, senators could force a vote on any aspect of American “security” assistance to Saudi Arabia, including recently announced and future arms sales.
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