WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Wednesday blocked resolutions that would have halted more than $3 billion in military sales to the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The Senate voted 56-39 against considering legislation that would have blocked the $1.9 billion sale of armed drones and associated equipment to Qatar. The vote was largely along party lines, with Trump’s fellow Republicans opposing the effort to stop the sale and most Democrats backing it.
The 100-member chamber later voted by the same 56 to 39 margin against an effort to block a $1.6 billion sale to the UAE of helicopters and other equipment.
Backers of the resolutions of disapproval said they opposed the sales for reasons including Qatar’s offer of a luxury jet as a gift to Trump and an agreement for a firm backed by the Emiratis to use a stablecoin launched by Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto venture.
Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a lead sponsor of the resolutions, called the agreements a corruption of U.S. foreign policy.
The embassies of Qatar and the UAE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Senator Jim Risch, the Idaho Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described both countries as reliable partners to the U.S. and dismissed the resolutions as partisan politics.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by David Gregorio)
