WASHINGTON ― The Senate on Tuesday permitted a controversial shipment of more than $500 million in precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, signaling that the U.S. is still largely supportive of the Saudis’ military campaign in Yemen despite increasing concern about its humanitarian and national security impact.
The resolution of disapproval was co-sponsored by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), and it blocks the sale of weapons.
But the resolution’s supporters argued that they still had some clear success.
The bill garnered far greater support than an effort last year to block a $1.15 billion tank sale to the Saudis. Some lawmakers who voted for that deal, like top Democrats Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ben Cardin (Md.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) opposed the latest shipment ― and a surprising number of Republicans, including Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), did too.
Aided by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Trump administration engaged in heavy last-minute lobbying to save the deal, and Saudi Arabia pushed lawmakers on it too, sending its well-connected foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, to town on the day of the vote.
The crisis in Yemen, where the Saudis and allies have been battling Iran-backed militants for over two years, is getting increasingly desperate. The World Health Organization said on Thursday that an outbreak of cholera there has now affected more than 100,000 people, and a Saudi-led blockade is worsening the situation because of its impact on the availability of food and medical supplies. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday in a statement that more than 5,000 suspected new cases have been reported each day over the past week.
Meanwhile, attempts to negotiate between the militants and the internationally recognized pro-Saudi government are stalled. The rebel group, the Houthis, last week said it would no longer engage with United Nations envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed because of his alleged bias for the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition.
President Donald Trump’s decision last month to lift an Obama-era hold on the munitions and green-light other potential sales in an unprecedented $110 billion arms deal boosted fears that Saudi Arabia would only become more stubborn about ending the war on its terms.
“Saudi Arabia is an important friend and partner for the United States…But they are still a deeply imperfect friend. $110 billion in weapons will exacerbate, not ameliorate, these imperfections,” Murphy wrote on HuffPost last month. “And in the powder keg that is the Middle East, this sale may simply light a fuse that sends the region, and us, deeper down the rabbit hole of perpetual military conflict.”
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