WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators will try to force nearly two dozen votes rebuking the Trump administration’s decision to declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress and sell billions of dollars of munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. And it could grind business in the Senate to a crawl while allowing rare public criticism of President Trump’s administration from members of his own party. “We will not stand idly by and allow the president or the secretary of state to further erode congressional review and oversight of arm sales,” Mr. Menendez said in a statement. Referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he added: “Regrettably, Secretary Pompeo’s abuse of this emergency authority has broken the arms sales process. The best thing the secretary of state can do right now is withdraw his emergency certification, immediately submit these sales for the normal congressional review and engage with senators to address our concerns.”

Source: New York Times June 05, 2019 01:03 UTC