Expectations of the US Senate vote to block a huge arms deal for the Emirates
Senator Bob Menendez, the most senior Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said he expects lawmakers to vote next week on bills seeking to block a massive $ 23 billion arms deal that Republican President Donald Trump struck with the UAE.
“We are rallying support for that (vote) and I think it will be sometime next week,” Menendez told reporters.
Menendez and two other senators, fellow Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican Rand Paul, announced on November 18 that they would introduce legislation seeking to stop the sale of drones, F-35 fighters and other weapons systems to the UAE.
The deal includes products from privately owned General Atomics, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets, and Raytheon missiles.
Menendez said he hoped more Republicans would support the bills.
It will take massive support from members of Trump’s party, who rarely disobey the president, to pass legislation and override the veto power that Trump is expected to use.
The huge deal could change the balance of power in the Middle East, and members of Congress were alarmed by Trump’s attempt to speed up its approval, as he did not send a formal notification to Congress about it until mid-November.
Many lawmakers fear that the UAE will use weapons in attacks that would harm civilians in the Yemen war, which is already witnessing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
