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“How do you reward a nation that does all of these issues?” Senate International Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) mentioned in an interview. “I don’t see it. Now, in the event that they wish to begin altering their methods, that’s a distinct story.”
Menendez is certainly one of 4 lawmakers whose approval is required for overseas army gross sales. He has lengthy opposed the sale, and doubled down this week even after Biden mentioned on the NATO summit final month that he wished to promote the jets to Turkey.
Biden’s remarks got here after Turkey dropped its opposition to Finland and Sweden becoming a member of NATO, however the White Home has mentioned there was no connection between Turkey’s transfer and Biden’s remarks.
Lawmakers say that Turkey ought to have by no means thrown up roadblocks to the 2 NATO aspirants within the first place. On prime of that, Turkey is going through U.S. sanctions for its earlier purchases of Russian-made missile protection methods, and its pilots have violated Greece’s airspace a whole bunch of instances in current weeks. Menendez additionally cited the “rise of authoritarianism” beneath President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
What’s extra, the Home is voting this week on an modification to the annual protection coverage laws that will tie Biden’s fingers by barring the sale except he can certify that it’s essential to U.S. nationwide safety and that the jets gained’t be used to violate Greece’s airspace.
It’s unclear whether or not the Biden administration will attempt to persuade Menendez to again the F-16 sale. When requested whether or not he could possibly be satisfied to drop his opposition, Menendez responded: “Not very a lot.” His GOP counterpart on the International Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, is undecided.
Democratic members of the Hellenic Caucus launched a blistering assertion final week in response to Biden’s declaration of assist for the sale, saying the administration hasn’t allayed their considerations about Turkey’s “antagonistic actions” towards Greece in addition to its potential re-invasion of Syria to focus on U.S.-allied Kurds.
“Till the administration can present appropriate solutions on how they meant to mitigate the above-listed considerations, we’ll proceed to object to this weapons switch and do the whole lot we will to make sure that these F-16s should not delivered to the Turkish authorities,” the lawmakers concluded.
Not all Democrats are against the sale.
Home Armed Providers Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.) mentioned that whereas he believes Menendez’s considerations are “respectable,” promoting F-16s would assist restore the U.S.-Turkey relationship.
“Turkey has completed plenty of issues which have made the connection tough. Nevertheless it’s not a relationship we will afford to flush,” Smith mentioned in an interview. “So we have to attempt to discover a technique to rebuild it. F-16s look like an inexpensive technique to do it.”
Whereas congressional opposition makes it exceedingly tough for Biden to promote the superior fighter jets to Turkey, he has a break-glass choice. He may declare a state of emergency to bypass Congress — a step taken by President Donald Trump when lawmakers wouldn’t approve his bid to promote weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.
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