[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Last, Mr. President, as it concerns our allies, later 
today the junior Senator from Kentucky will move to discharge a 
resolution of disapproval against American arms sales to Saudi Arabia. 
It is important to note that our Sunni Arab allies are engaged in two 
important struggles. The first is against ISIL and the extremist 
ideology it espouses and the attacks it pursues. The second is against 
Iran's efforts to expand its sphere of influence and revolution across 
the broader Middle East. In Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab 
Emirates are fighting against the Iranian proxy Houthi forces. As we 
know, some have raised the issue of the Saudi conduct of that war, but 
blocking this arms sale will diminish Saudi capability to target with 
precision.
  The complete arms sales package to Saudi Arabia includes munitions, 
professional military education, training, air and missile defense 
systems, and air force modernization. Part of the training provided to 
Saudi Arabia will be on subjects such as avoiding civilian casualties.
  More important, as the counter-ISIL coalition continues to make gains 
in Mosul and Raqqa, Iranian-supported militias in Iraq are posturing to 
create a land bridge through Iraq and into Syria. This land bridge 
could ultimately extend to Lebanon and improve Iran's support for 
Hezbollah. So now is not the time to undermine one of our critical 
allies in the Arab world by disapproving part of an arms sales package 
that will improve Saudi capabilities.

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