Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y. ) said recently he is moving to block the president’s proposed sale of precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia.
The president on Jan. 14 formally notified Congress about its intent to sell up to 900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) worth as much as $123 million to the Middle Eastern country, according to a statement from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of Central Command’s Air Forces, yesterday discussed the sale, saying that having similar equipment helps build the nation’s relationships in the Middle East and helps the nations work together as a joint team.
“It’s our western equipment. It’s our western technology. It’s our western tactics. And when we are willing to share the releaseable technologies, it goes a long way to breed trust and avoid conflict in the region,” North said at a breakfast sponsored by DieticaDFI. “This is where our congressional support for foreign military funding and foreign military sales becomes so vitally important to our business.”
Weiner and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) are cosponsoring a resolution that would pull the plug on congressional support for the sale of the GPS-guided weapons made by Boeing [BA]. They argued yesterday that Saudi Arabia has not been a good partner in terms of applying sanctions to Iran or bringing down the price of oil.
Congress has 30 days to pass that kind of resolution; Weiner acknowledged doing so will be a difficult task.
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over foreign military sales.
A spokesman for the committee said early this week he is not providing support for moving Weiner’s resolution from the committee to the House floor.
During a press briefing yesterday, Weiner said leadership has provided no commitment to consider the resolution. He said he intended to meet last night with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to discuss it.
In the meantime, Weiner and Wexler are trying to gather cosponsors, in the hopes that the Foreign Affairs Committee would reconsider.
Currently 51 members have signed the resolution, including two Republicans–Rep. Mike Ferguson (N.J.) and Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.).