07.29.19

Durbin Statement on Trump Administration's Continued Effort To Sell Arms To Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after voting to override President Donald Trump’s vetoes of the joint resolutions of disapproval regarding arms sales to Saudi Arabia.  The original resolutions of disapproval passed the Senate with 51 and 53 votes, but today’s veto override fell short of the two-thirds needed. 

“The Saudi government and royal family continue to deny any involvement in Mr. Khashoggi’s brutal disappearance and murder; they silence critics and rights activists; they turn a blind eye to the export of Wahhabi extremism; and their proxy war in Yemen has led to an estimated 85,000 children having died of malnutrition.  All of this makes it increasingly difficult to accept Saudi Arabia as a trusted ally of the United States.  And yet, President Trump will stop at nothing to continue arms sales to Saudi Arabia.” 

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