House Votes To Prevent Trump From Circumventing Congress To Sell Weapons To The Saudis

3 yes votes

Yesterday, the House passed an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act-- an amendment that Ted Lieu put together with Justin Amash (I-MI), David Cicilline (D-RI), Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) and Eliot Engel (D-NY). The purpose is to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through a bogus emergency declaration that Pompeo and Trumpanzee have been cooking up to bypass Congress' authority. Since Trump realties Pelosi will protect him from impeachment no matter what he does, he's been moving more and more directly into violating the Constitution. Remember, last month the House passed Lieu’s amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill on a bipartisan basis to block the execution of these 22 emergency sales. Trump vetoed it. This NDAA amendment prohibits Trump from using funding from the previous year as a way to circumvent the stipulations in Congressman Lieu’s FY2020 Defense appropriations amendment.

Ted: "Trump’s fake emergency declaration to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without Congressional oversight has been denounced on a bipartisan basis. Our arms sales process was designed to include congressional review specifically to ensure that each case served U.S. interests. This Administration cannot avoid Congress, no matter how hard it tries. There’s no indication that these sales benefit the American public and, if they do, the Trump Administration is required to make its case to Congress. Our NDAA Amendment is Congress putting its foot down. The people have had no say in this arms deal, which is why Congress won’t let it happen."

The amendment passed 246-180, every Democrat voting for it-- along with 13 Republicans plus Amash (now officially an Independent).

This was the "Dear Colleague" letter he sent to every member of the House:

We urge your support for the bipartisan Lieu/Amash/Cicilline/Malinowski/Engel amendment #24 to H.R. 2500.

On May 24, the Trump administration notified Congress that it was declaring an emergency to bypass congressional review of 22 arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Saudi-led coalition’s war against the Houthis in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians, displaced tens of thousands more, and created a staggering humanitarian crisis. In May, Congress passed bipartisan, bicameral resolutions to end U.S. support for these hostilities and yet, the Administration is circumventing Congress to send more weapons and military training-- including precision guided munitions—to be used in that conflict. The decision to override Congress and push through unpopular arms sales is an affront to our institution and must be stopped.

If the Trump Administration believes that these sales-- including an unprecedented proposal to move production of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia-- can stand on the merits, they should make their case to Congress in the standard process outlined under the Arms Export Control Act.

In response to this abuse of emergency authority, the House approved an amendment to the FY20 Defense Appropriations bill by a bipartisan vote of 237 to 191 blocking the transfer of these 22 defense articles and services in the next fiscal year. However, it is uncertain how many defense articles the Administration would still be able to transfer using FY19 funding. Meanwhile, the Senate passed bipartisan resolutions of disapproval on June 20, which will likely face a presidential veto.

We must add language to the NDAA to fully block these 22 arms sales and cut off the Administration’s options for circumventing Congress again in the immediate future. The Lieu/Amash/Cicilline/Malinowski/Engel amendment will accomplish this by prohibiting any pending and future arms transfer to Saudi Arabia and UAE through FY20 unless it has gone through the standard review process under the Arms Export Control Act. Please join us in protecting the role of Congress in the arms sale process.

The Swamp Revisited by Nancy Ohanian

Congressman Lieu passed another amendment to the NDAA yesterday, his "swamp Amendment," which limits Defense funds from being used at Trump-owned properties. The amendment is meant to prevent Trump from profiting off of American taxpayers by forcing government employees to stay at his properties and subsidize his businesses. (The amendment enables funds to be used at Trump-owned properties if the President agrees to reimburse the Treasury Department for costs associated with his stay.) "It is crucial to our democracy," said Ted, "that the President acts in pursuit of the public’s best interest-- not his own. To date, Trump has spent 270 days at properties that he or his family owns. Every time he does, he profits. According to a February 2019 Government Accountability Office report, the President spends an average of $3.4 million taxpayer dollars every time he travels to Mar-a-Lago. You shouldn’t go into public service to benefit your private businesses. I’m glad this amendment passed so we can start to drain the swamp."

This one was closer, 223-205, since all Trump enablers voted against it-- every single Republican and 8 of the worst Trump-Democrats, the ones Pelosi and Cheri Bustos working hardest to reelect:

• Jason Crow (New Dem-CO)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Andy Kim (NJ)
• Conor Lamb (PA)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)

Amash (I-MI) abstained by voting "present."