[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 91 (Thursday, May 25, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3203-S3204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE PRESIDENT IN SAUDI ARABIA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, while the Office of Management and Budget 
was putting the finishing touches on its Orwellian-themed ``A New 
Foundation for American Greatness,'' the President's fiscal year 2018 
budget, which proposes to eliminate or drastically reduce funding for a 
vast array of critical programs on which the American people--including 
the most vulnerable among us--depend, the Trump family was being feted 
by one of the world's wealthiest and repressive regimes.
  Not only has the Saudi family used its vast oil wealth to promote an 
extremist ideology, including in madrassas and mosques in South Asia, 
the Middle East, and North Africa, its grip on power is made possible 
through corruption and the systematic denial of fundamental rights, 
including the brutal oppression of women and girls, human trafficking, 
and the exploitation of foreign labor.
  After criticizing the Saudis during the Presidential campaign, 
earlier this week, President Trump and his family basked in the opulent 
glow of Saudi family royalty. According to press reports, just prior to 
their arrival, the President's son-in-law finalized a $110 billion sale 
of American weapons to the Saudis; yet neither the President nor his 
advisers, who danced with Saudi sheiks in a grand palace, voiced any 
concern that Saudi Arabia is a police state whose citizens have no 
opportunity to change their government, where criticism of the Royal 
family is not tolerated, and where arbitrary arrest and torture are 
common, nor with the Saudis' repeated misuse of U.S. military equipment 
against innocent civilians in Yemen.
  In fact, standing next to the Saudi Foreign Minister at a joint press 
conference, Secretary Tillerson rightly called on the Iranian 
Government to restore freedom of speech and assembly for its people so 
they can ``live the life that they deserve.'' But do the Saudi people 
not deserve such rights? He made no such appeal to the Saudi monarchy.
  Secretary of State Tillerson has also made clear that the values and 
individual rights that Americans have long believed are what makes the 
United States the great country that it is and which are in fact 
universal values enshrined not only in our Bill of Rights, but also in 
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, will take a back seat to our 
``national security and economic interests.'' In that sense, the 
administration is modeling itself after China and Russia, which, given 
President Trump's admiration for ``strong'' leaders like President 
Putin and Secretary Tillerson's background as he head of the world's 
largest oil company, should surprise no one.
  According to a press report, Secretary of Commerce Ross found it 
``fascinating'' that there were no protests during the President's 
visit to Saudi Arabia. ``Not one guy with a bad placard,'' he said, 
apparently oblivious to the fact that protests are prohibited and any 
protester would have been immediately arrested.
  I know I am not the only one here who finds it hard to fathom that a 
President who has condemned terrorism, as he should, says virtually 
nothing about the Saudi royal family's own support for extremism that 
breeds terrorism, and nothing about the Saudi regime's gross 
mistreatment of its own citizens. In fact, the President's daughter, 
who purports to speak on behalf of the White House, publicly praised 
the Saudi regime's progress on women's rights, ignoring the fact that 
every woman she met with--none of whom were women's rights activists--
required the permission of a male relative to participate.
  America's values, including the defense of human rights, are a source 
of our strength, our durability, and our leadership in the world. I 
have no qualms with a President of the United States visiting Saudi 
Arabia. In fact, I support it. What I don't support, however, is the 
President agreeing to a massive sale of weapons to a regime that, with 
the exception of its antipathy toward Iran, shares little in common 
with the United States. Saudi Arabia has been a supporter of terrorism. 
Its armed forces have committed war crimes in Yemen. Saudi Arabia ranks 
among the world's worse violators of human rights--even below Iran. The 
message to the Saudi regime and the Saudi people from President Trump 
and his family is that these issues are no longer important enough to 
even mention.
  Those of us who have been working on protecting and promoting U.S. 
national security interests since long before this administration took 
office know better. It is not possible to effectively separate our 
values, like the protection of individual freedoms and other human 
rights, and our national security and economic interests. They are 
inextricably linked, and we will all pay the price if we ignore that 
reality.

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