Trump may circumvent Congress for arms sales
WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are urging President Donald Trump not to go over Congress’ head to complete controversial arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries, amid concerns that he soon may use his emergency powers to sidestep the legislature’s power to check such deals.
Lawmakers and humanitarian advocates are anticipating the administration may exploit a legal loophole that permits the president to circumvent congressional roadblocks, or “holds,” on proposed arms sales. Sen. Robert Menendez, of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has placed such a hold on a planned sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, over concerns that they may be used against civilian targets in war-torn Yemen.
Such holds are common, and Republicans and Democrats have placed them on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Persian Gulf countries in recent years. Presidents have seldom exploited their emergency powers to work around them — and the prospect that Trump may attempt to blow through several objections to such arms sales has alarmed lawmakers who are anxious to protect their authority to have a say on the executive branch’s ability to export deadly weapons to foreign actors.
“The congressional review process exists so that the Senate can ask questions about whether a particular arms sale serves our national interests and supports our values, including human rights and civilian protections,” Menendez said in a statement Thursday, warning defense contractors that they, too, should be concerned that “the possible consequences of this will ultimately jeopardize the ability of the U.S. defense industry to export arms in a manner both expeditious and responsible.”
“In addition to suffering the reputational problems of delivering deadly weapons to governments that clearly misuse them, U.S. defense firms should exercise extreme caution that they are not opening themselves, their officers, and their employees to criminal and civil liability by exporting weapons pursuant to potentially invalid licenses,” Menendez said.
Earlier this year, the House and the Senate voted to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition operating against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen’s civil war, citing concerns that American involvement was worsening a humanitarian crisis that has been declared the world’s worst. More than 20 million Yemenis are at risk of starvation, while hundreds of thousands could be affected by a cholera epidemic in the impoverished country.
Trump vetoed the legislation, and lawmakers could not muster the numbers to overcome that veto. But even some Republicans who opposed the measure have cautioned the president against transferring nondefensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, opposition that gained bipartisan traction after intelligence officials informed lawmakers that the Saudi crown prince had ordered the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist.
It is not yet entirely clear to lawmakers whether Trump is considering using his emergency powers only to push through the proposed arms sales to Saudi Arabia — contracts about which the president has frequently boasted while exaggerating the expected cash windfall they will bring to the United States — or to others. But according to one Yemen advocate, the announcement could cover as many as 20 arms sales — and be justified by pointing to the recent escalation of tensions with Iran.
“To state the obvious, there is no new emergency reason to sell bombs to Saudi Arabia to drop in Yemen,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tweeted Wednesday. “The Saudis been dropping the bombs on civilians, so if there is an emergency, it’s a humanitarian emergency caused by the bombs we sell the Saudis.”