WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, joined U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and his Senate colleagues in filing an amendment to maintain the congressional notification requirement for all U.S. assistance to foreign militaries. Specifically, the amendment would strike a provision in the proposed national security supplemental funding bill that waives oversight requirements for U.S. funding for Israel under the Foreign Military Financing Program. If passed, the amendment would prevent the administration from bypassing congressional review of arms sales to Israel, just as required for all other nations.
“This amendment is critical to maintain Congress’s oversight responsibility over international arms sales. It simply maintains the current notification process for U.S. arms sales above a certain threshold, which is crucial to ensuring transparency for U.S. arms sales abroad. Israel and other close allies enjoy a shorter notification timeframe, but it would be problematic to eliminate that notification entirely for any country,” said Murphy.
The amendment is also sponsored by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
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