Senate Narrowly Backs Trump Weapons Sale to Saudi Arabia
"The Trump administration should take notice and use this statement as an opportunity to press the Saudis to change their behavior in Yemen — to focus on protecting civilians,
and to be transparent about its conduct in this devastating war." Yemen’s conflict began in 2014 when Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from the country’s north allied with rogue army units and stormed the capital, Sana, pushing the internationally recognized government into exile.
Senators voted, 53 to 47, to pave the way to sell $500 million in precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, batting back an effort to block the deal
and saving Mr. Trump from what would have been a major embarrassment just weeks after he traveled to Riyadh and announced plans for $110 billion in arms sales.
By HELENE COOPERJUNE 13, 2017
WASHINGTON — The Senate narrowly backed President Trump’s proposed arms sale to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, in an unexpectedly close procedural vote
that reflected mounting concern over the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen’s war.
Andrea Prasow said that Nearly half of the U.S. Senate sent an overwhelmingly clear message to Riyadh
that if it wants to return to a time of unequivocal U.S. support, it needs to stop killing civilians in Yemen,
Trump administration officials spent the hours before the vote frantically making phone calls and holding briefings with lawmakers to stave off a defeat, which would have been the first time in decades
that a congressional body summarily rejected a weapons sale to Saudi Arabia.
But an announcement on Monday from Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader,
that he opposed the sale cleared the way for a number of Democrats to join a few Republicans, including one of the resolution’s sponsors, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, in trying to slow down the sale.