Bills
| 3.23.22

Should Congress Prohibit the Sale of Precision Weapons to Saudi Arabia? (S. Joint Res. 42)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is S. Joint Res. 42?

(Updated March 22, 2018)

This resolution would prohibit the sale of precision guided bombs to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that are part of a planned $110 billion arms deal because of concerns that the weapons will be used by the Saudis against civilians in their fight against terror groups in Yemen. Among the weapons systems that couldn’t be sold to the Saudis include the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM); the MK-80, BLU-109, and BLU-100 family of weapons; and the Paveway II, III, and IV weapons (including their enhanced versions).

As a joint resolution, this legislation would need to be passed by both chambers of Congress and signed into law by the president to take effect.

Argument in favor

Saudi Arabia’s past support of terrorism, poor human rights record, and questionable tactics in its war in Yemen should preclude it from receiving precision guided weapons.

Argument opposed

Saudi Arabia is one of the most reliable U.S. allies in the Middle East and is currently fighting ISIS and Al Qaeda in Yemen. These weapons would help them defeat those terror groups.

Impact

The Saudi Arabian military; and the U.S. government.

Cost of S. Joint Res. 42

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced this resolution to block sales of precision guided weapons to Saudi Arabia:

“It is time we pause and consider the repercussions before we continue to fuel arms races around the world. Given Saudi Arabia’s past support of terror, poor human rights record, and questionable tactics in its war in Yemen, Congress must carefully consider and thoroughly debate if selling them billions of dollars of arms is in our best national security interest at this time.”

The bill has the backing of three Democratic cosponsors in the Senate, and will be the subject of a vote to discharge the bill from the Foreign Relations Committee so that it can get a vote of the full Senate.

 

Media:

Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: USAF / Public Domain)