The Biden administration in the United States is taking steps to bypass Congress and urgently apply the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act to sell tank shells to Israel. This rare move was announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken last Friday.
To expedite the sale of 13,000 tank shells to Israel, bypassing Congress, the emergency powers under the Arms Export Control Act have been invoked by the State Department. This information was conveyed by the Pentagon in a statement yesterday.
The rare decision by Blinken to use emergency powers to discuss the potential sale of arms to Israel is an unusual path taken to overcome Congressional deliberations. On Friday night, an emergency announcement was sent to Congress. The cost of these shells is $100.6 million.
The consideration of arms sales to another country does not typically happen so frequently in the United States. Generally, when the relevant committee of Congress receives such a request, it has 20 days to review and decide. The committee examines and gathers information, and sometimes it criticizes or may even withhold approval for arms sales. However, the use of emergency powers means that none of these usual procedures are in effect.
Prior to this, a proposal for the sale of 45,000 tank shells to Israel was sent to Congress by the Biden administration. The sale of these missile rounds would generate over $50 million in revenue for the United States.
President Joe Biden’s commitment of over $11 billion in new aid to Ukraine and Israel is part of the recent initiative. A bill has recently been introduced in Congress, placing a hold on Biden’s aid proposal for Ukraine and Israel.
