Washington: The US Senate will vote in the coming week on whether to block President Donald Trump’s arms sale to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a high-ranking official declared.
In an announcement on Thursday, New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez stated that he expects to raise the votes in the coming week, which he will be able to manage without support from the Republicans as a result of the rules governing arms sale resolutions, as reported by The Hill news site.
The Senator was reported as saying in the statement: “It’s ready, it has privilege on the floor. We are gathering support for it and I would think sometime next week.”
The declaration comes after Menendez, alongside Senators Rand Paul (Republican) and Chris Murphy (Democrat) submitted four resolutions of disapproval to block the $23 billion sales to the UAE of F-35 warrior jets, armed drones, rockets and bombs.
In the previous month, the administration informed that it approved selling the UAE up to 50 F-35s worth $10.4 billion, up to 18 MQ-9B robots worth $2.97 billion and a bundle of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions worth $10 billion.
In an interview on Thursday, Murphy stated the Trump administration briefing on the sales he and different members from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sales in the previous month convinced him the deal is being raced to box in the approaching Biden administration. But, he believed the deal, if it’s not defeated in Congress, might be available to change by the following president.
In the event that each Democrat backs the resolutions, the party would require three Republican senators to get to 51 votes.
Since Paul is a co-sponsor that implies they would just need an extra two Republican senators, The Hill news site report said.
Senators are concern that the $23bn weapons sale could change the balance of power in the Middle East and UAE could utilize the weapons in Yemen.
In the last year, Congress voted to block arms deals to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the midst of shock over the killing of journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
