Last month, a group of Senate Democrats had a eureka moment: The rising cost of fuel, they said, is largely the fault of Middle Eastern oil-producers, who simply aren’t doing their part to pump more oil. The lawmakers threatened to halt billions of dollars in already approved armed sales to those countries if they failed to ramp up production.
On Tuesday, the same senators took their push a step further, introducing a resolution of disapproval to scrap $1.4 billion-worth of pending arms sales to Saudi Arabia if the royal kingdom doesn’t hike its oil production by 1 million barrels a day. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the sponsors, said the price of gas at home should take priority over the sale of weapons abroad. Schumer’s words, according to The Associated Press:
“„
We are saying to the Saudis that, if you don’t help us, why should we be helping you?
“„
We are saying that we need real relief, and we need it quickly. You need our arms, but we need you to cooperate and not strangle American consumers.