House Votes to Block Arms Sales to Gulf Nations, Setting Up Trump’s Third Veto

As reported by the New York Times.

Although this is in the context of conventional U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, there are close parallels re: nuclear power technology that risks nuclear weapons proliferation. The Trump Dept. of Energy has allowed nuclear power technology to flow to Saudi Arabia, despite the Saudi Crown Prince's admission on CBS News's "60 Minutes" that, if Iran pursued nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia would follow suit. These U.S. nuclear power technology transfers, done by DOE exemptions that sidestep congressional Atomic Energy Act due deligence to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation, thus run such risks.

Typically, Congress must approve nuclear power technology transfers to foreign countries, under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. But the Trump DOE has done an end run around this, granting exemptions.

DOE has gone so far as to keep secret the identity of the U.S. nuclear power companies transferring this technology to Saudi Arabia, absurdly and outrageously claiming some sort of trade secret exemption from such disclosure.

A growing number of Congress members are seeking ways to do something about this.