Trump administration may end process for congressional review of foreign arms sales

The Trump administration is quietly discussing whether to end a process for congressional review that has allowed lawmakers from both parties to block weapons sales to foreign governments over humanitarian concerns, according to current and former administration officials and congressional aides. The move could quickly advance sales of bombs to Saudi Arabia, among other deals.

If adopted, the change would effectively end congressional oversight over the sale of U.S. weapons and offers of training to countries engaged in wars with high civilian casualties or human rights abuses, and would certainly widen rifts between the administration and Congress.

Senior administration officials have been especially frustrated in the past three years by bipartisan efforts in Congress to hold up arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which has used U.S. weapons to wage a devastating air war in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians.

In May 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared an emergency to bypass Congress and fasttrack more than $8 billion in bombs and other weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan — citing Iranian aggression in Yemen as the reason.

More recently, the administration has chafed at decisions by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and others to block the sale of $478 million worth of precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia.

Under the current system, which has existed for decades, the State Department gives informal notification to relevant foreign policy committees in Congress of proposed arms sales. The lawmakers then give input to administration officials, which helps the administration in making adjustments to ensure the sales get approved by Congress as a whole.

Under this informal process, lawmakers can hold up sales, which is what both Republican and Democratic senators have done with arms sales to Gulf Arab nations.

If the administration scraps the informal notification process, it would tell Congress of proposed arms sales only through the formal process. That framework allows members of Congress to introduce and vote on resolutions to disapprove of certain sales. But to actually block a deal, a measure would require support from two-thirds of both chambers to overcome an inevitable presidential veto.