So let me review three main reasons that I hope we can unite today to override the President’s veto.įirst is how these weapons are being used. That is his right.īut the constitutional, strategic, and moral imperatives that led the United States Senate to reject the sale of these arms six weeks ago still stand today. Look, many of us expected the President to use his veto powers. ‘credibility as an arms supplier’ and so on. We’ve heard these sales are necessary for ‘sustaining the global supply chain ’ for preventing ‘loss of sale to peer-competitors ’ for maintaining U.S. We continue to hear officials invent new reasons for pushing through these sales. It’s clear this Administration has had other motives from the start.
In fact, not even President Trump’s own veto messages mention the word “emergency.” And that’s why six weeks ago, this body came together in a bipartisan way to reassert the role of Congress in reviewing arms sales and pass 22 separate resolutions of disapproval. That’s why I introduced resolutions to disapprove these sales. Indeed, Secretary Pompeo’s own May 24th justification for the sales lacked any persuasive information explaining how these sales would address an Iranian threat so serious that it justified bypassing Congress on an ‘emergency’ basis. And I have and will continue to approve arms sales to partners and allies that address legitimate security threats and advance American interests.īut from the start, this Administration has failed to demonstrate what kind of national security threat or quote-unquote ‘emergency’ from Iran warranted fast-tracking the sale of these weapons to Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. Let me be clear: Iran has and will continue to pose a threat to U.S. President, today I rise to urge my colleagues to join me in voting to override the President’s veto of three resolutions of disapproval on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Īs we all know, several weeks ago the Secretary of State attempted to bypass this body and the entire Congress on 22 separate arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates-all on the pretext of an urgent physical threat from Iran that was at best ill-defined and at worst completely false.
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