WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday released the following statement on President Biden’s freezing of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates:
“Saudi Arabia and the UAE are important partners, but our recent dizzying pace of arms sales to these nations has not made the United States or the region safer, and that is why the Biden Administration's decision to pause sales is a wise one. Too often over the last decade, the Saudis and the Emiratis have used U.S. made weapons to bomb civilians in Yemen or have illegally transferred them to extremist militias in Yemen and Libya. The pace of sales to the Gulf has also fueled an arms race with Iran that is terrible for U.S. interests. I’m glad President Biden understands this dynamic, and has frozen the Trump administration’s massive and last-minute weapons sale to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Now is the time to reset the U.S.-Gulf partnership, and I look forward to working with President Biden to ensure U.S. foreign policy is more nuanced than simply selling arms to partners and sanctioning rivals,” said Murphy.
In December, Murphy along with U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced the introduction of four separate Joint Resolutions of Disapproval rejecting the Trump administration’s effort to provide the United Arab Emirates with precedent-setting weapons systems. The bipartisan resolutions come after the Trump administration formally notified Congress of its intention to sell over $23 billion in Reaper drones, F-35 joint strike fighter jets, munitions, and air-to-air missiles to the UAE. Murphy joined Crooked Media’s Pod Save the World and Yahoo News’ Skullduggery to discuss the rushed sale.
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