Democrats seek sterner stance on Saudis

WASHINGTON — Nearly three dozen House Democrats are pushing the administration to get tougher with Saudi Arabia, calling it a bad strategic partner after it has refused to help ease the world’s oil supply crunch during Russia’s Ukraine invasion.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat and senior member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Committee on Rules, led lawmakers in a letter asking Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a “recalibration” of the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Joe Biden started out his presidency freezing out the kingdom’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, over Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen and abuses including the killing of American-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Tight oil supply and rising oil prices that are driving inflation have led the Biden administration to try to improve its relationship with Saudi rulers since then, however.

Blinken and other U.S. diplomats and military leaders have called on Saudi officials, dialed back public criticism of Saudi imprisonment of dissidents, and emphasized U.S. defensive support for the kingdom against cross-border missile attacks on Saudi oil sites and other targets by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

There are no signs the U.S. overtures have assuaged affronted Saudi rulers, and the kingdom has refused to make the drastic increases in oil pumping that the U.S. hopes for.