U.S. – Saudi Relations Reverting Back to Trump Era Tactics Under Biden’s Administration

Any senator can force a floor vote to block a U.S. foreign military sale. But when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., did just that last year in a failed bid to halt President Joe Biden’s $650 million sale of AIM-120 air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, barely half of the Democratic caucus joined him.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., was among the Democrats who sided with Biden and voted against Paul’s resolution, which failed 30-67. Now Blumenthal is taking the lead on one of numerous Democratic initiatives to curtail the U.S.-Saudi security partnership in the wake of OPEC’s decision to reduce oil output – a cut that has infuriated Biden and his allies in Congress.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress successfully banded together to pass a resolution blocking Trump’s 2019 sale, largely in response to the Saudi-led coalition’s aerial campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels – which has killed nearly 9,000 civilians to date – and the kingdom’s 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But lawmakers failed to muster the votes needed to override Trump’s veto.

The abrupt reversal comes after Biden himself vowed that Saudi Arabia would suffer “consequences” and the White House announced it would once again review U.S.-Saudi relations. Biden conducted a similar review shortly after taking office last year, ultimately allowing some arms sales to proceed despite his vow to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state while campaigning against former president Donald Trump.

Blumenthal hopes that his “sensible and reasonable” bill will nudge Biden to freeze all arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and potentially prompt Riyadh to reconsider the oil cuts before they go into effect next month.

The bill would enact a one-year halt on all arms sales to Riyadh. This would include any support equipment, spare parts or other logistical and technical services that usually accompany any weapons.

Congress has displayed much less overall interest in keeping U.S. weapons out of Saudi hands under Biden – at least until last week’s OPEC decision. Three of Biden’s four arms sales to Saudi Arabia have proceeded without a senator forcing a vote to block it.

A White House fact sheet from Biden’s visit noted that Saudi Arabia had committed to increase production levels 50% above what the kingdom had planned for July and August. Shortly thereafter, the State Department in August approved a $3 billion Patriot missile defense system to Saudi Arabia in August – with no congressional protest.

This story originally appeared in Defense News.

Paul Crespo