By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans have blocked an effort by Democrats to temporarily block arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in response to President Donald Trump’s dealings in the region.
Democrats forced two procedural votes Wednesday to protest Qatar’s donation of a $400 million plane to be used as Air Force One and a $2 billion investment by a UAE-backed company using a Trump family-linked stablecoin, a form of cryptocurrency.
Sen. Chris Murphy, who led the Democratic effort, said the U.S. Senate should not “grease the wheels” for Trump.
“We can do that by voting to block these two arms sales to Qatar and to the UAE — not permanently, but until both countries commit to deny Trump’s requests for personal enrichment as part of the bilateral relationship,” Murphy said.
Trump’s administration is still sorting out the legal arrangement for accepting a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family and how the plane would be modified so it is safe for the president, who has called the arrangement a “no brainer” as a new Air Force One has faced delays at U.S.-based Boeing.
Trump said he wouldn’t fly around in the gifted Boeing 747 when his term ends, but Democrats, and even some Republicans, have strongly questioned the ethics of the arrangement.
At a hearing on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to provide details on plans for his department to accept the jet. He said budgeting and schedules for security upgrades to turn the plane into the president’s aircraft are classified.
“A memorandum of understanding remains to be signed,” Hegseth said.
Democrats have also raised ethical questions about the Trump family’s stake in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project that has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. Earlier this year, World Liberty announced an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Murphy forced the votes under a mechanism known as a joint resolution of disapproval that allows the Senate to reject arms sales. The procedural vote Wednesday blocked a Democratic motion to discharge the resolution from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and move to an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
The effort was mostly symbolic, as the measures would have had to pass both chambers of Congress and withstand any presidential veto to become law. But Murphy said the Senate should exercise its powers to oversee arms sales around the world.
“We place immense trust in the president not to abuse these incredible authorities that are given to him,” he said.
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