Lawmakers have raised concerns about the efforts of the Trump administration to give Saudi Arabia nuclear materials without consultation with Congress and without properly notifying regulators.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) told The Washington Post that Trump officials “appear willing to short-circuit the process to achieve their political goal of continuing to cozy up to the Saudi regime,” following a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday.
“At the very least [the Trump administration] is clearly unwilling to stand up to the Saudis on human rights while at the same time bending over backwards to give the Saudis access to nuclear material and technology,” Van Hollen said.
During the Tuesday hearing, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Kristine Svinicki told senators on the committee that she did not know if anyone at her agency had raised concerns about “Part 810 authorizations.” Those authorizations allow for sharing of technological information but not equipment, and the administration admitted last week that it had made seven such approvals without telling Congress. Energy Secretary Rick Perry defended the move by saying involved companies had requested confidentiality.
“I fully understand and respect the need for U.S. companies to protect their proprietary information from competitors,” Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, wrote in a letter sent to Perry this week, according to The Post. “At the same time, however, Congress must be given sufficient information to fulfill its constitutional oversight responsibilities.”
President Donald Trump has drawn significant criticism from many Democrats and Republicans for his continued support of Saudi Arabia despite its human rights abuses. Following the murder of U.S. resident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a team of Saudi agents in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate, the president’s support for the kingdom drew intense backlash. The Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, also voted last month to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and a massive humanitarian crisis.
But George Friedman, founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures, pointed out to Newsweekthat past Democratic and Republican presidents have stuck by the Saudi regime despite its poor record on human rights. Washington has long seen the alliance as necessary to maintain regional stability and counter Russian influence, he said.