State Department to send more than $6.5 billion in weapons to Israel, bypassing Congress

The State Department announced on Friday that it planned to send Israel more than $6.5 billion in weapons aid, including Apache attack helicopters and combat land vehicles, bypassing the customary congressional informal review process, the Times reported. The packages covered four weapons systems that had been under review for months by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The department, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, did not wait for approval from the top two members of each committee before announcing the aid, a departure from standing practice. The largest case is Apache attack helicopters, valued at $3.8 billion; a case of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) is valued at $1.98 billion.

The other two cases are AW119 Koala light helicopters and power packs for armored personnel carriers. A congressional aide said the State Department sent the cases to the committees for informal review sometime in early fall. Representative Gregory W. Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had not approved any of the weapons sales and that his requests to the State Department had not been answered.

“Just one hour before doing so, the Trump administration informed me it would disregard congressional oversight and years of standing practice and immediately notify over $6 billion in arms sales,” Mr. Meeks said in a written statement. The State Department declined to comment on exchanges with Congress.

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