Three arms sales to Saudi Arabia, totaling $850 million, have been pushed through Congress by the Bush administration in the last two months, with scarcely a mumble of opposition.
But now one member of Congress, Rep. Mel Levine (D-Calif.), is complaining that Secretary of State James Baker has not been seeking the customary congressional input in advance of proposing arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Congress has 30 days to pass resolutions blocking arms sales proposed by the White House. If no such resolutions are passed, the arms sales automatically go through.
That was the case with three recent arms sales totaling $850 million in parts used mainly to upgrade the Saudis’ F-5 and F-15 fighter planes.
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing June 22, Baker said the administration plans to propose more sales in the coming months.
Levine sent a letter to Baker that same day, charging “there has not been an adequate dialogue” between the administration and Congress on its proposed arms sales to the Middle East. He accused Baker of continuing the “reckless arms sale policy of the previous administration.”
Levine asked Baker to consult with Congress “much earlier” in advance of proposing arms sales. And he requested that the secretary provide a list of the imminent arms sales he alluded to during his June 22 testimony.
Questioned about Levine’s letter, a State Department official said Friday that there was “no intention to catch anyone by surprise” in proposing the arms sales.
All three were part of “longstanding contracts for service and maintenance,” and were included in an annual report to Congress detailing the year’s anticipated arms sales, the official said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
