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Congress rebukes Trump over pro-Saudi stance

The US Senate came close to passing a bill prohibiting bomb sales to Riyadh for its war in Yemen amid growing concern about sectarian entanglement.
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 19:  Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) participates in a discussion about legislation to halt the sale of some weapons to Saudi Arabia at the Center for the National Interest September 19, 2016 in Washington, DC. After the Department of Defense announced the sale of $1.5 billion of arms to Saudi Arabia, Senators Paul, Chris Murphy (D-CT), Al Franken (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) are attempting to block the sale by using a provision of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 that "provides for specia

The US Senate on June 13 fell just four votes short of blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia in a sign of growing unease about US involvement in the sectarian proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran.

Senators voted 53-47 against a motion from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have prohibited the Donald Trump administration from selling $500 million worth of precision-guided munitions for the kingdom’s campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Last year, while Barack Obama was still president, a similar proposal to stop the sale of battle tanks to the Saudis only garnered 27 votes.

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