{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/us-foreign-policy-has-become-too-dependent-on-sanctions-to-punish-our-enemies-and-arms-sales-to-reward-our", "US Foreign Policy Has Become Too Dependent On Sanctions To Punish Our Enemies And Arms Sales To Reward OurRead More", "2020-12-04", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTONU.S. Senator\r\nChris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations\r\nCommittee, joined Yahoo News's Skullduggery this week to discuss the\r\nadministration's proposed sale to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and\r\nprogressive foreign policy under the incoming Biden-Harris administration. On the proposed arms sale to the United\r\nArab Emirates, Murphy said: [W]e've\r\nnever sold this kind of technology into the region. That's the first thing to\r\nthink about here. Second is, ask yourself whether what the Middle East is\r\nmissing today is weaponized Reaper drones that can shoot Hellfire missiles with\r\nzero risk of human life loss to the operator of that drone. What we know is\r\nthat the UAE has a really troubled history with respect to how they use U.S.\r\nweapons. They've used our weapons to target and kill civilians inside Yemen.\r\nVery recently, they transferred weapons we had sold them, equipment we had sold\r\nthem, to extremist militias inside Yemen. They're in violation of the\r\ninternational arms embargo on Libya. And so there's a lot of bad behavior. Murphy continued: And the question is, why reward\r\nthe UAE with this massive unprecedented arms sale when we can't be sure how\r\nthey're going to use those weapons, or whether they're going to actually stay\r\nin the hands of the UAE?' So that, in and of itself, I think is a reason to\r\npress pause on the sale. But we also have to understand that it fuels a more\r\ngeneral arms race in the region. I mean, if we really care about Iran's\r\nballistic missile program, then why are we continuing to give Iran more reason\r\nto build more effective and more powerful ballistic missiles by selling record\r\nnumbers of arms to Iran's enemies in the region, the Saudis and the Emiratis.\r\nSo this just makes no sense from a security standpoint. We should be in the\r\nsecurity business with the UAE, but we don't have to sell them this number of\r\narms and this serious a level of arms. On holding the Saudi's accountable in\r\nthe incoming administration and prospects for peace in Yemen, Murphy said: I've said from the beginning that we\r\nshould be suspending our arms sales to the Saudis until we have some degree of\r\naccountability, at least a clear admission from the Saudis as to what happened\r\n[with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi]. On Yemen, I certainly think that our arms\r\nsale should be conditional on the Yemen war coming to a close or at least a\r\ntemporary peace deal being signed. But I actually think that it just takes\r\nactive U.S. participation at the secretary level, and we may be able to unlock\r\na peace agreement.Part of the problem over the last four years has been\r\nthat Tillerson and Pompeo have not been actively involved in trying to settle\r\nthat conflict. I think there's a peace deal there for the taking. And so if\r\nSecretary Blinken gets directly involved, which I think he will, I think we can\r\ncome up with a resolution there that makes the Saudis and the Emiratis happy,\r\nthat gives the Houthis some role in the government while ending outright\r\nhostilities. And so that's an issue where I just think we have to work harder\r\nat it. On resetting the U.S.-Saudi\r\nrelationship, Murphy said: Don't\r\nsell them arms until we have some amount of accountability. If [Mohamed bin\r\nSalman] is going to be the leader of the nation, we should tell him that our\r\ncontinued participation and security relationship with Saudi Arabia is\r\ndependent on the way in which he uses those weapons. And let's watch what he\r\ndoes in places like Syria and Yemen moving forward. On his hopes for progressive foreign\r\npolicy with the new administration, Murphy said: I know Tony well and he's been good\r\nto keep in close contact with me over the course of the campaign. Obviously, I\r\nworked very closely with him when he was Deputy Secretary of State. What I love\r\nabout Tony is that he's open to new ideas. He's an experienced diplomat. He's\r\nbeen around for a long time. Murphy continued: I'm of the school that American\r\nforeign policy has become a bit scleroticthat we've become way too dependent\r\non these arms sales to reward our friends and sanctions to punish our\r\nadversaries. I think we've got to really develop a whole new toolkit that\r\nlargely exists outside of the Department of Defense; new tools that State and\r\nUSAID have in the propaganda space, the energy space, the anti-corruption\r\nspace. And so I'm hopeful that Blinken is going to come to Congress and say\r\nlisten, dramatically, plus up my non-military tools, my smart power tools, so\r\nthat I can actually go toe to toe with Russia and China' who, by and large, are\r\nexerting influence outside of the deployment of brigades and missile systems.\r\nSo that's what I like about Tony and that's what I'm looking forward to: sort\r\nof being able to rethink the American foreign policy toolkit outside of what we\r\ngive secretaries of states and Departments of Defense and presidents today. Click Here to Listen to the Skullduggery\r\nEpisode ###", 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/us-foreign-policy-has-become-too-dependent-on-sanctions-to-punish-our-enemies-and-arms-sales-to-reward-our"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4537428505718708, "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"}