Congress pushes for ultimatum to Gulf oil royals
Friday, April 25, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
WASHINGTON — For the first time, Congress is threatening to link U.S. weapons sales to the oil production policies of the Gulf states.
Leading Democrats in Congress have warned that they would block U.S. arms sales to such states as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait unless they increase crude oil production. They said the failure of Saudi Arabia to raise production has been a major factor in the soaring price of gasoline in the United States.
"The Saudis have to understand this is a two-way street," Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. "We provide them weapons, our troops provide them protection, and then they rake us over the coals when it comes to oil."
Senate Democrats wrote a letter to President George Bush that reported a two million barrel per day reduction in Saudi oil output since 2005. The senators reported current Saudi production at 8.5 million barrels a day, well below the kingdom's capacity of 11 million barrels a day.
"At a time when high energy prices are causing widespread anxiety among American households, we question the merit of rewarding members of OPEC with lucrative arms sales," the senators wrote.
The initiative, organized by Democrats, could threaten plans by the Bush administration to sell $20 billion worth of defense systems and weapons to Saudi Arabia. This would include the Joint Direct Attack Munition, which Congress tacitly approved in January 2008.
On Thursday, Schumer joined several Democrats that demanded that President George Bush pressure Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other members of OPEC to increase oil output or face a U.S. weapons embargo. Kuwait, another leading U.S. arms client, is also a member of OPEC.
The senators — including Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat; Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana; Sen. Bob Casey a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and Sen. Bernie Sanders and independent of Vermont — appeared most dismayed over Bush's policy toward Riyad. For his part, Schumer said he and his colleagues would press for a resolution to block current weapons projects to GCC states.
The White House quickly rejected the demand by the Senate Democrats. Officials said President George Bush and his aides have assessed that any linkage between U.S. arms sales and Arab oil production would result in a Saudi backlash.
"Arms sales to our allies are made because they are in the national security interests of our country, not because they are a bargaining chit," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
Over the last six months, Congress has approved nearly $14 billion worth of weapons sales to OPEC members. The largest deals were that of the PAC-3 missile defense system to the UAE, valued at $9 billion.