Senate Rejects Resolution Blocking Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia
Backers say vote still puts kingdom on notice about its conduct
by Rachel Oswald
Sep 21, 2016
The Senate on Wednesday voted down a rare attempt to block an arms sale to Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. counterterrorism partner but one that has fallen into disfavor with a number of lawmakers due to the kingdom's involvement in the war in Yemen and lingering suspicions about its role in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Though senators voted 71-27 to table a resolution that would block the sale, the measure's bipartisan backers, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., portrayed it as a partial success. They argued the vote sends a strong signal to Riyadh and to the Obama administration that a significant portion of Congress is unhappy with Saudi Arabia’s apparent negligence in preventing civilian casualties in its 18-month bombing campaign in Yemen, as well as its broader role in the fight against terrorism.
“The very fact that we are voting on it today sends a very important message to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia that we are watching your actions closely and that the United States is not going to turn a blind eye to the indiscriminate killing of men, women and children,” resolution co-sponsor Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said on the Senate floor.
The proposed $1.15 billion weapons sale includes 153 Abrams tanks, 20 armored vehicles, over 400 machine guns and more than 6,600 rounds of ammunition. Many of the tanks in the arms deal are to replace ones lost by Saudi Arabia in fighting along its border with Yemen. Under the Obama administration, the United States has sold roughly $100 billion worth of weapons and military equipment to Saudi Arabia,
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