Lawmakers call for one-year block in arms sales to Saudi Arabia after oil production cut

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Representative Ro Khanna of California is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and is spearheading the House version of that bill to end us arms sales to Saudi Arabia for one year. He joins me now.

  Congressman, welcome back to the "NewsHour." Thank you for joining us.

  You have said the U.S. needs to immediately, immediately halt those arms sales.

  We should note this has been proposed before and many times by many other people. It has never moved forward. Why do you think that this moment is different?

• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA):

  This is a defining moment.

  Just like the war powers resolution that stopped the refueling of the Saudi planes that Senator Sanders and I led passed after Khashoggi murder, this is another moment that has really outraged people on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill. It's Saudi Arabia's ingratitude. We provide them with 70 some percent of their arms.

  We stood up for them when Saddam Hussein was going to invade after Saddam had invaded Kuwait, and Saudi planes literally couldn't fly if it weren't for American technicians. Yet they are fleecing the American public, making about $100 billion in 2022. There needs to be consequences.

• Amna Nawaz:

  We provide them with all those things you just listed, but also they provide us with crucial intelligence, counterterrorism intelligence, specifically, the U.S. relies on for national security purposes.

  Could imposing consequences in whatever form compromise U.S. national security?

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  No, it will not. They are far more reliant on us.

  In fact, the defense agreements that we have, the joint defense initiatives, are more extensive than almost any other major ally. And that's all to the Saudis' benefit. The production is there. The jobs are there. So they are far more dependent on us. And they already are making these drastic cuts.

  And they're making drastic cuts at a time when they're making 70 percent profit margins on each barrel of oil. Why are they doing it? They're doing it to help Putin, because Putin doesn't have those profit margins. He's selling his oil at a discount of $35 a barrel to China and other countries. So, to appease Putin, they're hurting the American consumer at the pump.

  And that just won't stand. And we have far more leverage over them than they do over us.

• Amna Nawaz:

  We are assuming also that leverage would force them to move away from Russia, but it is a gamble. What if it backfires? What if they further cut oil production?

  What if they just end up moving further towards Russia and China?

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  Well, they cannot move further towards Russia and China in the near term. They — it would take almost 10 years for them to get be able to get the weapons that we provide, just because of interoperability of these weapons, and, literally, the air force would be grounded to a halt tomorrow if they didn't have American technicians.

  Now, maybe it would take years for them to build with Russia and China, but they simply could not do that. In terms of cuts, they have cut already so far. I don't think further cuts would be possible. They were talking about a million barrels cut. They have cut two million barrels. And other parts — countries in OPEC, the UAE, Kuwait, wouldn't make up for it if they went for further cuts. So they already have taken the most drastic action.

• Amna Nawaz:

  What about Iran in all this, Representative Khanna? I mean, none of this unfolds in a vacuum.

  The U.S. foreign policy in the region is structured largely around Saudi Arabia. Just this summer, the U.S. approved two new massive arms deals for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates specifically to help them defend against Iran.

  Does cutting Saudi arms sales empower Iran?

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  No, it doesn't. And I was opposed to those arms sales.

  Let's not forget that the Saudis are responsible for one of the biggest humanitarian crises in the world in Yemen. It is appalling what they have done to the children there. It's appalling the starvation they have caused. It's appalling that they're continuing to blockade.

  Now, the Houthis are also to blame. And the Iranians are to blame in Yemen as well. But the Saudis have been the principal perpetrators of that war. And so I don't think that the — cutting off these arms sales are suddenly going to make them vulnerable to Iran.

  And I have spoken out very strongly for the students, for the women protesting in Iran. I believe there are other ways that we can contain Iran. But we should not use a Kissingerian balance of power, where we end up supporting brutal dictators, at the expense of our own public, because of some balance-of-power politics in the Middle East.

• Amna Nawaz:

  What do you believe that President Biden could have done differently in this moment? I mean, he went from calling Saudi Arabia a pariah to visiting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in July, the fist bump seen around the world.

  Do you think there's anything that the president or this administration could have done differently to avoid this moment?

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  Yes, I don't think he should have gone to Saudi Arabia. Senator Sanders and I took to the papers to say that the trip was misguided. I believe he should have been clear with the Saudis that there would be very drastic consequences, both if they didn't lift the blockade, which they still haven't in Yemen.

  And now they're talking about actually not following through on the truce in Yemen, but certainly extremely drastic consequences if they cut oil production. So I believe that he could have been clearer on all of those things. Now, I'm glad that he's contemplating action now. And my belief is, if we are tough enough, they will reverse the decision.

• Amna Nawaz:

  He said he's contemplating action. We have heard the word consequences, but no specifics.

  In your talks with the administration, how serious are they in imposing serious and immediate consequences?

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  They have told me that the president is going to take action, that the president is reexamining the Saudi relationship, and that the action is imminent.

  And so I believe the president has to act. How can you allow a country that is a — quote, unquote — "ally" to continue to profit of the American public and make drastic cuts when we're going through one of the bigger energy crises we have in recent decades? Allies don't treat each other that way.

• Amna Nawaz:

  More broadly, U.S. officials did reportedly warn Saudi leaders that a cut in production would be seen as a clear choice they're siding with Russia, and the Saudis did it anyway.

  What does that say to you about how they view the U.S. right now?

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  Well, they don't think that there are going to be consequences.

  But I believe they should take a temperature, one, of many of the younger members of Congress, who aren't steeped in the same traditional relationship with Saudi, who basically know Saudi Arabia through the prism of the Yemen war and the humanitarian crisis that they have caused. They should remember that the war powers resolution stopping our aid passed the House and the Senate, the only time a war powers resolution has ever passed.

  And they should know that now there are going to be consequences. You have not just Senator Blumenthal and I calling for it, but Senator Menendez, a very respected foreign policy voice who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee calling for it. So they are really hurting their relationship on the Hill.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Briefly, if you can, Representative, the Saudis have said this was economic, their decision to cut oil production. Do you believe it had anything to do with the timing of the upcoming midterm elections?

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  I don't know, but I know it's not economic when you're making over 70 percent profits on your barrels of oil.

  Look, I have been critical of Exxon and Chevron, but it pales into the comparison into what the Saudis are making on. Oil so what I do know is that they have chosen deliberately to hurt Americans at the pump.

  Look, I doubt — I don't think the timing is coincidental, but I have no evidence of why they have taken that decision. All I know is that they're hurting the American public.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That is Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat from California and member of the House Armed Services Committee.

  Thank you so much for your time.

• Rep. Ro Khanna:

  Thank you.