Congress prepares for another showdown over Saudi arms sales
Senators of both parties are determined to keep US bombs out of Yemen.
Congress is bracing for another showdown over arms sales to Saudi Arabia less than six months after lawmakers' last fight on the issue.
The Donald Trump administration is expected to formally notify lawmakers soon of its intention to resume the sale of precision-guided munitions that were put on hold by President Barack Obama. The notification would automatically trigger a 30-day review period during which Congress can try to block the sale.
“We'll have the same debate we had in the fall on it,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Rand Paul, R-Ky. “We will oppose it.”
The Washington Post reported March 8 that the State Department has approved the sale, kicking it over to the White House for a final determination. Obama blocked the sale of 16,000 precision-guided munitions from Raytheon worth more than $350 million in December following a Saudi strike on a Yemeni funeral that killed more than 100 people.
