On the recordJuly 11, 2019
I respect the gentleman's point about how we need to work towards an agreement to how Congress can have the most constructive role possible on arms sales. The concern here is the tendency of the White House to declare an emergency when they simply want to do something that we haven't allowed them to do. It is troubling because it takes us out of the process, so we need to find a way to make sure that they can't do that. It is not a huge mystery why these arms sales have been held up. We are concerned about Iran's malign influence. We are also concerned about the actions that Saudi Arabia has been taking in that region that could be stirring up conflict and making it easier for Iran to have that malign influence; quite specifically, killing civilians in Yemen in a way that generates sympathy, certainly, for the Houthis in Yemen but then sympathy for that side. So, we are worried about the way Saudi Arabia is conducting this war, certainly, and we are also worried about other actions by Saudi Arabia. Certainly, the murder of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, has not been answered for to this point. So, simply selling weapons to Saudi Arabia at this point is something that is going to take time and is going to raise questions. For the President to simply bypass us, taking us out of the process in that situation, I think, undermines our role. That is the purpose of this amendment, and I urge adoption. {time} 1245
