The Reagan administration formally notified Congress Wednesday of plans to sell $825 million in arms to Saudi Arabia.
The announcement came after the administration earlier said it had indefinitely postponed formal notification so that it could confer with members of Congress who oppose the sale. Under the original timetable, such notification was to be given by April 21.
The $825 million package presented Wednesday is $125 million less than the earlier proposal. Both packages contain $500 million in Bradley Fighting Vehicles and TOW II anti-tank missiles, but the revised package reduces from $450 million to $325 million the amount of new support equipment for AWACS reconnaissance planes already owned by Saudi Arabia.
Capitol Hill sources concurred that the motive of members of Congress in opposing the sale is to bring attention to Saudi Arabia’s attempt last month to conceal its purchase of medium-range missiles from China. Those missiles could hold nuclear warheads, although Saudi Arabia has assured the administration that it will not use the missiles for that purpose.
The sources added that no part of the package poses a particular threat to Israel. For example, the administration’s 1987 proposal to sell Bradley Fighting Vehicles and TOW missiles to Saudi Arabia did not provoke large-scale congressional opposition. A State Department source said that a Saudi decision this week to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty should have an “ameliorating effect” on congressional concerns about new arms sales to Saudi Arabia, in light of the Chinese missile sale.
By signing the 1968 treaty, which limits the spread of nuclear technology to non-nuclear nations, the Saudis would be pledging not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons.
Members of the House and Senate sent letters to Secretary of State George Shultz earlier this month urging him to reconsider the sale. The House letter was signed by 187 members, while the Senate version had 58 signatures.
Congress now has 30 days to reject the sale; otherwise it will automatically go through.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a hearing on the proposal for May 9. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to hold hearings soon.
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