For the second time in six weeks, the Trump administration has bypassed Congress to send Israel billions of dollars of weaponry. Continued US military support for Israel should not surprise anyone, but the president’s skirting of congressional approval to do so is significant. In a Republican-dominated Congress with numerous Democrats eager to profess their support for Israel, lawmakers surely would have signed off on additional military aid. That the Trump administration felt no need to consult them is indicative of a trend in Trump’s second term to marginalize the legislative branch.
On March 1, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a declaration to use emergency authorities to expedite approximately $4 billion in arms to Israel. Secretary Rubio invoked these authorities in lieu of the traditional congressional notification process. As is procedure, the Department of State typically notifies Congress of a proposed foreign military sale, which Congress is empowered to review. In using emergency authorities, Rubio and the Trump administration bypassed this process, waiving the congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act. This marked the second time that the Trump administration had done so, following a fast-tracked sale for Israel worth more than $7 billion for munitions and related equipment announced February 7.
In conjunction with the move to bypass congressional review, Trump has quickly dismantled other checks and balances that are supposed to ensure oversight of US military assistance and sales. Before signing off on almost $12 billion in weapons to Israel, Trump reversed the Biden administration’s pause on the delivery of additional 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs, Israel’s use of which has been devastating in Gaza. Trump also revoked National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), a Biden administration measure from February 2024 that requires foreign nations receiving US weapons to certify that they are using them in accordance with international law and are not obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid. Although the Biden administration dubiously concluded that Israel was compliant with NSM-20, the instrument was a symbolic effort to communicate that the United States had not completely abrogated its duty to follow US and international law. Trump’s repeal of NSM-20 eliminated this pretense altogether.
Notably, Trump’s recent actions have not been without pushback. Leading the charge, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced joint resolutions of disapproval (S.J.Res.20, S.J.Res.21, S.J.Res.22, S.J.Res.23, S.J.Res.25, S.J.Res.26, and S.J.Res.27) to block the proposed military sales. In a statement, Sanders affirmed that the munitions that Trump is sending to Israel “are directly implicated in tens of thousands of civilian deaths” and “would clearly violate the criteria laid out in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act.” In the House, Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) have introduced companion legislation (H.J.Res.68, H.J.Res.69, H.J.Res.70, H.J.Res.71). The legislation has not yet gained momentum, however. As of March 6, Sanders’s resolutions have no cosponsors. Jayapal’s and Tlaib’s have only 13.
A more representative response has been offered by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who criticized the administration after the February 7 arms sale announcement. But Meeks focused less on the provision of weapons to a country that is violating international law and more on the fact that Trump was doing so in “disregard for long-standing Congressional prerogative.” In fact, Meeks’s statement, which reiterates his support for US military assistance to Israel, makes no mention of Israel’s human rights violations or its other conduct in Gaza. Meeks released an even weaker statement on February 25, this time not mentioning Israel. That statement, a reaction to Trump’s repeal of NSM-20, broadly expressed concern with Trump’s rolling back of safeguards for civilian protection and human rights, though again without mentioning Israel’s war on Gaza.
For all the talk of how Trump has overpowered Congress in implementing wide-scale domestic and foreign policy changes, legislative responses have been ineffective so far. In part, Democrats can only do so much. The sheer number of issues to which Democratic lawmakers are trying to respond from the minority has created a chaotic climate for which the party was clearly unprepared. But along the way, Palestinian lives in Gaza seem to have been forgotten. News about Trump’s reversal of Biden’s support for Ukraine has overshadowed coverage of Gaza in recent weeks, and the president barely referred to the situation in the Middle East during his March 4 speech to Congress except to call it a “rough neighborhood.” All of this has taken place against the backdrop of an increasingly fragile Gaza ceasefire and Israel’s announcement that it is blocking humanitarian access to the Strip. These developments demand a forceful response from Congress, which can ill afford to be marginalized further.
The views expressed in this publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab Center Washington DC, its staff, or its Board of Directors.
Featured image credit: US DoD/Joshua Joseph Magbanua
