Senator Bernie Sanders’s late effort to stop$735 million arms sale to Israel, claiming it’s not morally to send U.S. made weapons to the Jewish state at a time when it’s carrying out airstrikes killing civilians,is proving to be symbolic and short-lived considering he doesn’t have the votes in the Senate to do that, The Hill writes.
Based on the past experience, lawmakers need to be able to force a vote, with passage requiring only a simple majority in the Senate by using the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) to bypass the 60-vote filibuster, when trying to prevent an arms sale which means Sanders would need 51 votes, or 50 votes and Vice President Harris to vote against the administration’s arms sale.
But that is unlikely to happen considering the deep divisions among Democrats over what should be done with regards to Israel, a long-time ally that typically enjoys bipartisan support, with several Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee saying they’re undecided and Senators Robert Menendez and Ben Cardin among those opposing the resolution.
Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he wouldn’t be supporting it.
U.S. Congress was notified on May 5 that Biden administration approved selling Israel $735 million in weapons, mostly Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions that can turn so-called dumb bombs into precision-guided missiles.
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