Bill Lee: “I rise today to lend my support and urge my colleagues to lend theirs to S.J. Res. 39, offered by my friend Senator Rand…”

“I rise today to lend my support and urge my colleagues to lend theirs to S.J. Res. 39, offered by my friend Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. The purpose of this particular resolution is to reconsider the billion-dollar arms sale between the United States and Saudi Arabia that was negotiated by the two governments earlier this year. Under U.S. law, any arms sale approved by the State Department will go into effect within 30 days after that deal has been finalized, absent passage of a resolution of disapproval to prevent it from taking effect. That is exactly what Senator Paul's resolution aims to do. If passed by the Senate and the House, the resolution would raise formal objections to the sale of $1.15 billion worth of weapons and military equipment to the Government of Saudi Arabia. Notice that there are Senators from both sides of the aisle working to pass this resolution of disapproval, supporting it in speeches and voting on it hopefully later today. It was introduced by a fellow Republican, and I am proud to join three of my Democratic colleagues as original cosponsors: Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut, from whom we heard just moments ago; Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, from whom we heard after we heard from Senator Murphy; and Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Some might call us strange bedfellows--two conservative Republicans and three liberal Democrats working together to achieve the same goal. But this observation misses the point entirely.…”