WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration notified Congress on Friday that it is invoking a rarely used provision in federal law to bypass congressional review of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, two Democratic senators said.
The administration is issuing an emergency declaration that will allow it to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others despite congressional objections, according to Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Menendez said the administration did not cite a specific legal or practical reason for using the provision in the Arms Export Control Act other than to cite threats from Iran.
"President Trump is only using this loophole because he knows Congress would disapprove of this sale," Murphy said in a statement."There is no new 'emergency' reason to sell bombs to the Saudis." Congressional opposition to U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia has been growing, and lawmakers have blocked about $2 billion in arms sales to the kingdom for more than a year amid concerns over civilian casualties in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen and outrage over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October by Saudi agents.
Menendez and Murphy said they would challenge the decision but it was not immediately clear how they might do that.
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