Sanders Opposes Weapons Sales to Saudi Arabia, Calls on Trump to Obey Constitution

WASHINGTON, June 20 – Today, Senator Sanders (I-Vt) issued the following statement as he voted in support of joint resolutions to block the transfer of $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and other states in response to President Trump’s announcement of a “national emergency” over Iran, which was intended to bypass statutory Congressional oversight over arms sales:

“The Trump administration’s attempt to do an end-run around Congressional disapproval in order to transfer weapons to the Saudi and Emirati regimes is a violation of the law, and an affront to the Constitutional order.

“Repeatedly, we see this president using phony ‘emergency’ declarations to sidestep the law to get what he wants. The fact that he is transferring these weapons at a time when the Saudis and Emiratis are waging a catastrophic war in Yemen, a war that a bipartisan majority in Congress has declared to be unauthorized and illegal, is even more outrageous.

“It’s time for the president to respect the will of a convincing majority of the Senate and follow the law. I will do everything I can to assert Congress’s power over the purse to end the war in Yemen and block these weapons from being used by the Saudis in that war. Trump should not do the bidding of the repressive, undemocratic regime of Saudi Arabia, which was exposed this week by the United Nations for the premeditated killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the coverup of that crime.”