$7B Arms Sale to Israel Won't Wait for Congressional Review

The Trump administration has told Congress it's moving ahead with weapons sales to Israel totaling more than $7 billion, circumventing the review being conducted in a House committee. The State Department made the notification on Friday, the New York Times reports. Congress had put a hold on a $1 billion sale earlier in the week, per the Hill, before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Washington visit. The package includes munitions and missiles.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee told CNN he had unanswered questions about the deal. "This move is yet another repudiation by Donald Trump of Congress' rightful and legitimate oversight prerogative," Gregory Meeks said in a statement, adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio "has failed to provide adequate justification or documentation for bypassing the Congressional Committee review process." The top four members of both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee can put a pause on arms sales to allies if the deals are valued over a certain amount, per the Hill. It would take a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress to block the sales. (More US-Israeli relations stories.)