{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-the-floor-of-the-senate-murphy-speaks-in-support-of-resolutions-to-block-arms-sales-to-the-uae", "On The Floor Of The Senate, Murphy Speaks In Support Of Resolutions To Block Arms Sales To The UAERead More", "2020-12-09", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTONU.S. Senator\r\nChris Murphy\r\n(D-Conn.) on\r\nWednesday blasted the Trump administration's proposed arms sales to the United\r\nArab Emirates (UAE) on the U.S. Senate floor ahead of the vote on his joint\r\nresolutions of disapproval which seeks to block the sales. On the unprecedented nature of this\r\nproposed arms sale, Murphy said: [O]n\r\nthis sale, in particular, the consultative process was really important.\r\nBecause this sale is as big and as hairy and as complicated as you get. We are,\r\nfor the first time, selling F-35s and MQ-9 Reaper drones into the heart of the\r\nMiddle East. We've never done it before. On the arms sale spiral in the Middle\r\nEast, Murphy said: Today\r\nwe may be selling the F-35s and the MQ-9s to the UAE, but the Saudis are going\r\nto want it, the Qataris have already requested it,\r\nand it just fuels Iran's interest in continuing to build up its own military\r\nprogramming. On the UAE's failure to\r\ncomply with the arms embargo to Libya and violating our end-use violations,\r\nMurphy said: We are talking\r\nabout selling the UAE the most lethal, most advanced armed drone technology in\r\nthe world today. And as we speak, UAE is in violation of the arms embargo to\r\nLibya, fueling that civil war, specifically sending drones into that theater\r\nI'm not here to say that we shouldn't be in the security business with UAE.\r\nThere are a lot of important common projects, but the question is, with a\r\ncountry that is part of the problem more often than part of the solution in\r\nYemen, a country that is in existing violation of an arms embargo in Libya, a\r\ncountry that has just within the last several years transferred our weapons to\r\nAl Qaeda-aligned militiaswithout resolving those issues, is this the moment to\r\nbe selling for the first time ever F-35s, armed drones into the heart of the\r\nMiddle East? Murphy also discussed his\r\nconcerns about the UAE's active defense relationships with China and Russia: The UAE has pretty deep and\r\ncomplicated defense relationships with China, Russia, and Chinese and Russian\r\ncompanies. Query whether we can be absolutely certain that the technology\r\nonboard those fighter jets, those drones are going to stay in the right hands.\r\nThere arguably is no other country on the list for the F-35s that does as much\r\nbusiness with China and Russia as the UAE does. On the impact pausing this\r\nsale could have on the Abraham Accords, Murphy said: [T]here is no threat to the accords\r\nbetween UAE and Israel unwinding if we simply press pause on this sale until\r\nthose questions are answered. I do want to be in business with the UAE. I think\r\nthey're an important defense partner. But I think there's far too much at stake\r\nwith the sale of these weapons right now to rush it through. And I don't think\r\nthere's any downside risk if we were to say not now, until we get all of our\r\nT's crossed and all of our I's dotted. Last month, Murphy along with U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and\r\nRand Paul (R-Ky.) announced\r\nthe introduction of four separate Joint Resolutions of Disapproval rejecting\r\nthe Trump administration's effort to provide the United Arab Emirates with\r\nprecedent-setting weapons systems. The bipartisan resolutions come after the\r\nTrump administration formally notified Congress of its intention to sell over\r\n$23 billion in Reaper drones, F-35 joint strike fighter jets, munitions, and\r\nair-to-air missiles to the UAE. Murphy joined Crooked\r\nMedia's Pod Save the World and Yahoo\r\nNews' Skullduggery to discuss the sale last week. Earlier this year,\r\nMurphy also welcomed\r\nthe Abraham Accords. A full transcript of\r\nMurphy's remarks can be found below: Mr. President I'm on the floor today\r\nto speak to resolutions upon which we will begin voting today regarding arms\r\nsales proposed by the administration to the United Arab Emirates. And I'm on\r\nthe floor today to ask my colleagues to support these\r\nresolutions of disapproval upon two grounds: One, the protection of\r\ncongressional prerogative, and two: a question of U.S. national security. First, let me cover the\r\nquestion of congressional prerogative. We have traditionally debated arms sales\r\nhere on occasion, and the reason why we don't have constant debates in this\r\nbody on arms sales, the reason why we don't have resolutions on every sale that\r\nis noticed by the administration is because we have built into our practice an\r\nability for the Senate to consult with the administration beforehand on a\r\nbipartisan basis. Over the years since the\r\npassage of the law allowing for Congress to have a role in the sale of arms to\r\nforeign nations, administration after administration, Republicans and Democrats\r\nhas observed a period of consultation with Congress in which the administration\r\ncomes to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comes to the House Foreign\r\nRelations Committee, presents the reasons for the sale, and then addresses\r\nconcerns raised, often, in a bipartisan manner, by Republicans and Democrats.\r\nAgain, this has happened in both Democratic and Republican administrations with\r\nDemocratic and Republican congresses, and often that consultative process\r\nresults in issues that Congress has being resolved so that you never have to\r\nhave a vote on the Senate floor. Something different happened with this sale. The administration was so\r\ndesperate to rush through the sale before the end of their administration that\r\nthey blew through the consultation process. It just didn't happen. There was no\r\nability for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to weigh in on this\r\nparticular sale. It was rushed to notice, and our only option was to bring it\r\nbefore the full Senate. Now, under any\r\ncircumstances, I would argue that the Senate should stand up for our right to\r\nhave a role. The reason that we built in this consultative process was because\r\nthe Senate was actually unhappy with the amount of input it had decades ago,\r\nand was threatening to dramatically expand its oversight role on arms sales,\r\nand instead, a deal was worked out in which the administration said they would\r\ncome for this consultation. Now, it appears that those consultations are no\r\nlonger the practice. That reduces our role as\r\na foreign policy making body. And remember, we have abdicated all sorts of\r\nresponsibilities over the years when it comes to what should be a co-equal\r\nresponsibility to set the broad direction of U.S. foreign policy with the\r\nexecutive branch, this would be yet another chip away at Congress'\r\nparticipation in the setting of U.S. national security policy. I'm not sure\r\nwe'll ever get it back. But on this sale, in\r\nparticular, the consultative process was really important. Because this sale is\r\nas big, and as hairy, and\r\nas complicated as you get. We are, for the first time, selling F-35s and MQ-9\r\nReaper drones into the heart of the Middle East. We've never done it before.\r\nThere are only 14 countries that currently operate the F-35, and almost all of\r\nthem are NATO allies. Turkey was on the list for a\r\nperiod of time but because they ended up making a choice to go with the Russian\r\nmissile defense system, they were taken out of the program. So the partners\r\nthat remain are the ones that you would suspect: Britain, Italy, the\r\nNetherlands, Australia, Denmark, Canada. There are even fewer\r\ncountries that we have sold Reaper drones to: Australia, France, Italy, the\r\nNetherlands, Spain, UK, and India. This is the first time that we would sell\r\nthese incredibly lethal, incredibly complicated technologies into the heart of\r\nthe Middle East. A region that, arguably, is not in need of more weapons. What we risk doing here\r\nis fueling an arms race. Today we may be selling the F-35s and the MQ-9s to the\r\nUAE, but the Saudis are going to want it, the Qataris have already requested\r\nit, and it just fuels Iran's interest in continuing to build up its own\r\nmilitary programming. But more specifically to\r\nthis sale, we have to ask\r\nourselves whether the UAE is ready for this technology or whether their\r\nbehavior over the past several years makes them an unworthy partner for this\r\nset of highly complicated U.S. defense technology. I will stipulate, as I think\r\nevery member of this body will, that the UAE is often a very important ally of\r\nthe United States. There is an important cooperative relationship that exists\r\nbetween the United States and the UAE, we share counterterrorism information\r\ntogether, we were both involved in the fight against ISIS, we worked together\r\nto counter Iranian influence in the region, and of course, the UAE's\r\nrecognition of Israel is good for the United States as well. But for as many places as we\r\ncooperate with UAE, there are many points of division. And those points of\r\ndivision often involve the use of U.S. military technology against the\r\ninterests of the United States. The UAE has been, for years, involved in a\r\ncivil war in Yemen that is terrible for U.S. national security interests. Now,\r\nthey may not be as involved as they were a couple years ago, but they are still\r\na barrier to peace. They still refuse to make humanitarian contributions to\r\nhelp the situation on the ground. So far in 2020, $0 from the UAE put into the\r\nUN appeal to try to fight off starvation and cholera inside Yemen. At one point, they took U.S.\r\nequipment and they handed it to extremist militias inside Yemen. That's open\r\nsource reporting. The UAE copped to it when the\r\nreporters asked them whether they had done it. They gave our equipment to\r\nSalafist militias inside a theater of war. Other reports that they were\r\ndropping American made TOW missiles out of the sky into areas of that country\r\nthat were controlled by Al Qaeda-aligned elements. And they are, right now, as we speak, in\r\nviolation of the Libya arms embargo. The UN panel of experts\r\ncame to the conclusion that the majority of arms transfers into Libya, to the\r\nHaftar armed forces, were either from Jordan or the United Arab Emirates. The\r\npanel found that the UAE was in repeated non-compliance with the arms embargo.' And guess what's on the list of the\r\nweapons that the UAE was transferring into Libya in violation of a U.S.\r\nsupported arms embargo: armed drones. We are talking about selling the UAE the\r\nmost lethal, most advanced armed drone technology in the world today. And as we\r\nspeak, UAE is in violation of the arms embargo to Libya, fueling that Civil\r\nWar, specifically sending drones into that theater. And so, I'm not here to say that we\r\nshouldn't be in the security business with UAE. There are a lot of important\r\ncommon projects, but the question is, with a country that is part of the\r\nproblem more often than part of the solution in Yemen, a country that is in\r\nexisting violation of an arms embargo in Libya, a country that has just within\r\nthe last several years transferred our weapons to Al Qaeda-aligned\r\nmilitiaswithout resolving those issues, is this the moment to be selling for\r\nthe first time ever F-35s, armed drones into the heart of the Middle East. One last caution. The countries that\r\nI mentioned on this list are by and large, in business with the United States\r\nand not with China and Russia. The UAE has pretty deep and complicated defense\r\nrelationships with China, Russia, and Chinese and Russian companies. Query\r\nwhether we can be absolutely certain that the technology onboard those fighter\r\njets, those drones are going to stay in the right hands. There arguably is no other country on\r\nthe list for the F-35s that does as much business with China and Russia as the\r\nUAE does. In fact, as I mentioned, we pulled the F-35 program from Turkey,\r\nbecause they are involved with Russia on a very complicated and important\r\nground defense system. And we're just learning about the nature of the\r\npartnerships that the UAE has with the Chinese and the Russians. It stands to reason that this would\r\nbe one of the issues that a consultative process with Congress would resolve.\r\nAnd it also stands to reason that we could probably come to a conclusion during\r\nthat consultative process. If the UAE really wants these weapons, wants to be\r\nthe first country in the heart of the Middle East to get the F-35 or the Reaper\r\ndrones, then I assume they would want to be able to assure Congress and the\r\nadministration that there's no chance of technology transfer into the wrong\r\nhands. That's what the congressional consultative process would have gotten us,\r\nbut it didn't happen in this case. And so we are stuck with this vote, a means\r\nfor Congress to stand up for its right, to participate in this question of arms\r\nsales. And believe me, my Republican colleagues are going to want that right.\r\nWhen a Democratic administration comes into office, you're not going to want to\r\nsend a signal today, to the Biden administration, that they don't have to\r\nconsult with you as the majority party, potentially, in 2021. But if you vote\r\nagainst these resolutions, then you're essentially saying: the Biden\r\nadministration doesn't need to consult with Congress either. They probably\r\nwill, because they want to do the right thing. But anybody who votes against\r\nthese resolutions is essentially endorsing an end around of Congress by any\r\nadministration, Republican or Democratic. But it's also important to say that\r\non a policy grounds, it's not time to do these sales. There are too many\r\noutstanding questions about who the UAE transfers weapons to, what they're\r\ndoing in Libya, why they haven't been part of the solution in Yemen, and what\r\ntheir relationship is with some of our most important adversaries around the\r\nglobe. Until we satisfy the answers to those questions we should not move\r\nforward with this sale. And finally, there is no threat to\r\nthe accords, between UAE and Israel unwinding if we simply press pause on this\r\nsale until those questions are answered. I do want to be in business with the\r\nUAE. I think they're an important defense partner. But I think there's far too\r\nmuch at stake with the sale of these weapons right now to rush it through. And\r\nI don't think there's any downside risk if we were to say not now, until we get\r\nall of our T's crossed and all of our I's dotted. Let's stand up for Congress's\r\nprerogative on the sale of arms to foreign countries, let's slow down a process\r\nthat has been rushed, potentially to the great detriment of U.S. national\r\nsecurity. Let's support these resolutions of disapproval this afternoon. Thank you, Mr. President. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-the-floor-of-the-senate-murphy-speaks-in-support-of-resolutions-to-block-arms-sales-to-the-uae"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9414450507611036, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}