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, on Wednesday spoke at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the State Department’s fiscal year 2025 budget request. In his questions to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Murphy expressed his concerns with recent reporting on the U.S.-Saudi bilateral elements of a potential normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. He also commended the Biden administration’s work to secure commitments from China on stopping the flow of precursors used to make fentanyl.

On the U.S.-Saudi elements of a normalization agreement, Murphy pressed Blinken on the administration’s accelerated timelines and confidence that Saudi Arabia lives up to its commitments: “Press reports suggest that the United States and Saudi Arabia are close to finalizing the bilateral elements of a regional security deal. The Saudis themselves called the existing draft ‘semifinal.’ So I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the status of these talks to the extent that you can tell us. The first is this, it seems as if the administration has really put their foot on the accelerator to try to get the U.S-Saudi elements of this agreement wrapped up. But our committee’s understanding has always been that this would be in the context of an agreement that included Israel, and critically would include real commitments for a Palestinian state. Unfortunately, and regrettably, right now, there does not seem to be the willingness or the room inside the Israeli politic to make those commitments. And so my first question is why the rush to get a deal done with Saudi Arabia when we don't even know the shape of the commitments that Israel may ever be willing to make? And two, why do we have confidence that Saudi Arabia would ever live up to the commitments that it is making? In the national security world, a mutual defense or a security treaty is a sacred trust. This is a country that four years ago, chopped to pieces an American resident journalist. This is a country that two years ago turned its back on us when we asked them to side with us at OPEC+, and instead chose Russia.”

Murphy emphasized the importance of any agreement including Israel’s commitment to a Palestinian state: “Let me just express worry at the phrase ‘credible pathway to a Palestinian state.’ Right, a credible pathway to a Palestinian state is very different than a Palestinian state. We have had numerous credible pathways to Palestinian states that neither side has made real upon. This is a unique and perhaps final opportunity to actually cement a Palestinian state, which many of us believe is the necessary predicate to peace in the region and the long-term survival of a Jewish state in the Middle East.”

On the budget’s inclusion of funding to fight fentanyl: “Later this week, the Senate is going to vote on a bipartisan border security measure negotiated with Republicans that would dedicate $20 billion to border security, including substantial unprecedented new resources to stop fentanyl from coming into the country. This amount that you've requested, the underlying budget, stands on top of the commitments that you secured at the recent summit in San Francisco from the Chinese to do some really important, dramatic things to stop the movement of precursor into Mexico and into the United States.”

Last week, Murphy emphasized the importance of upholding the “gold standard” in any nuclear agreement reached with Saudi Arabia as part of a normalization deal with Israel.

A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:

MURPHY: “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here before this committee. Thank you for your continued willingness to be in an open dialogue with the Senate and Senate Foreign Relations Committee on these important matters.

“Press reports suggest that the United States and Saudi Arabia are close to finalizing the bilateral elements of a regional security deal. The Saudis themselves called the existing draft ‘semifinal.’ So I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the status of these talks to the extent that you can tell us. The first is this, it seems as if the administration has really put their foot on the accelerator to try to get the U.S-Saudi elements of this agreement wrapped up. But our committee’s understanding has always been that this would be in the context of an agreement that included Israel, and critically, would include real commitments for a Palestinian state.

“Unfortunately, and regrettably, right now, there does not seem to be the willingness or the room inside the Israeli politic to make those commitments. And so my first question is why the rush to get a deal done with Saudi Arabia when we don't even know the shape of the commitments that Israel may ever be willing to make? And two, why do we have confidence that Saudi Arabia would ever live up to the commitments that it is making?

“In the national security world, a mutual defense or a security treaty is a sacred trust. This is a country that four years ago, chopped to pieces an American resident journalist. This is a country that two years ago turned its back on us when we asked them to side with us at OPEC+, and instead chose Russia. And so I'd ask you to answer those two questions. Why the rush, given that we don't really understand the potential for the full agreement to come into effect? And what gives you confidence that Saudi Arabia will live up to any of the commitments it’s making?

BLINKEN: “Thank you, Senator. A few things here. First, yes, we have sought to move forward in negotiating the bilateral U.S.-Saudi aspects of a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But even if we were to conclude those agreements, and I believe we actually can conclude them relatively quickly, given all the work that's been done, they could not go forward, and the overall package could not go forward, absent other things that have to happen for normalization to proceed. And in particular, the Saudis have been very clear, that would require calm in Gaza and it would require a credible pathway to a Palestinian state. And it may well be, as you said, that in this moment, Israel is not able or willing to proceed down that pathway. But to the extent that the agreements are finalized in principle between the United States and Saudi Arabia, that in effect calls the question, and Israel will have to decide whether it wants to proceed and take advantage of the opportunity to achieve something that it has sought from its founding, which is normal relations with the countries in its region.

“And we see the possibilities for the future in that agreement. We saw them starkly, powerfully on April 13 and April 14, when Iran engaged in an unprecedented attack and a direct attack by Iran, in Israel, and countries come together, led by the United States, to defend Israel from that attack and defend it very successfully. There's an opportunity for Israel to become integrated in the region, to get the security, fundamental security, it needs and wants, to have the relationships it’s sought, going back to his founding. But in order for that to actually go forward, there has to be an end to Gaza, there has to be a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.

“So I think one advantage of completing the work, at least in principle, with the Saudis, is that the question then becomes one that's no longer theoretical or hypothetical, but one that needs to be answered. And we'll see what the answer is. Look, these agreements, like any agreements, whether it's with Saudi Arabia or anyone else, you count on the other party to live up to the agreement, and if they don't, there are consequences, including the agreements being, in effect abrogated. So I think it's profoundly in Saudi Arabia's interests to fulfill what the commitments that they would make in the context of these agreements, and by the way, none of this will go forward before Congress has its say.”

MURPHY: “Let me just express worry at the phrase ‘credible pathway to a Palestinian state.’ Right, a credible pathway to a Palestinian state is very different than a Palestinian state. We have had numerous credible pathways to Palestinian states that neither side has made real upon. This is a unique and perhaps final opportunity to actually cement a Palestinian state, which many of us believe is the necessary predicate to peace in the region and the long-term survival of a Jewish state in the Middle East. But look forward to continued conversations about this really important topic.

“I wanted to touch one other subject with you. You’ve got $169 million in this request to counter fentanyl and other synthetic drug production around the world. Thank you for that commitment. Later this week, the Senate is going to vote on a bipartisan border security measure negotiated with Republicans that would dedicate $20 billion to border security, including substantial unprecedented new resources to stop fentanyl from coming into the country. This amount that you've requested, the underlying budget, stands on top of the commitments that you secured at the recent summit in San Francisco from the Chinese to do some really important, dramatic things to stop the movement of precursor into Mexico and into the United States. Just in the remaining 30 seconds to a minute, the importance of the achievement at the summit, and how that dovetails with the requests that you're making. You’ve made substantial progress on stopping the flow of fentanyl into the United States, you're to be commended for that, but this money seems critical.”

BLINKEN: “First of all, I commend the efforts being made here to dedicate these resources to what is arguably the number one challenge we face in terms of public health. And in terms of the security of the American people. The number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49 – not heart attacks, not car accidents, not guns – fentanyl, synthetic opioid. So this has to be, and it is, for us, a number one priority. It requires a lot of work at home. It also requires a lot of work around the world, given the global nature of the threat. With regard to China, President Biden achieved important agreements with President Xi when they met at the end of last year, outside of San Francisco, and China moved ahead in publishing new regulations and cracking down on some of the companies that were engaged in producing and then transferring the precursors, the ingredients that go into making fentanyl as well as to establishing a working group with us so that we could track this.

“Now, when I was just there a few weeks ago, I made the case that while this was a good start, and important, more needs to happen in order for it to be truly effective in reducing the flows that are coming to Mexico, the precursors, and then synthesized into fentanyl and coming into the United States, including very public enforcement of the law with prosecutions and convictions, including scheduling some precursors that China has agreed to schedule but has not yet done to make their use more restrictive, and also going at the financial networks, where we've seen connections between some Chinese entities and criminal cartels in our own hemisphere and working from their end to sever those, so we'll be watching to see whether that happens. It's a start, but a lot more needs to happen.”

###