Senate Votes to Block Raytheon Paveway Bomb Sales to Saudi Arabia in Bipartisan Rebuke

On June 20, 2019, the Senate voted 53-45 to pass resolutions blocking major components of the Trump administration’s $8.1 billion emergency arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including specifically prohibiting the transfer of 64,000 Raytheon-manufactured Paveway precision-guided munitions. The votes represented a rare bipartisan rebuke of executive branch arms transfer policy, with Republican Senators Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul joining Democrats to oppose the sales. Senate Joint Resolution 36 specifically targeted the Raytheon Paveway co-production agreement that would have allowed Saudi Arabia to manufacture bomb components domestically—technology transfer critics warned would enable long-term Saudi military independence and undermine US leverage to prevent civilian casualties. The Senate action directly challenged Trump’s May 24 emergency declaration, with lawmakers arguing that no genuine emergency justified bypassing congressional review for weapons sales to a regime committing war crimes in Yemen.

Raytheon Paveway Technology Transfer Blocked

One of the most significant resolutions passed by the Senate specifically prohibited the Raytheon Paveway co-production agreement, which would have transferred sensitive bomb-making technology to Saudi Arabia. The deal would have allowed Raytheon to partner with Saudi entities to manufacture guidance systems, circuit cards, and electronics for precision-guided munitions inside the kingdom. Arms control experts testified that this technology transfer represented an unprecedented sharing of closely-guarded US military capabilities with a regime actively using such weapons to kill civilians. Senator Bob Menendez argued that teaching Saudi Arabia to build its own smart bombs would eliminate future US ability to constrain Saudi military operations by withholding weapons transfers. The resolution blocking the Paveway co-production passed with significant bipartisan support, reflecting concerns that extended beyond Yemen atrocities to include national security implications of proliferating advanced weapons technology. For Raytheon, the Senate vote threatened not just immediate contract revenue but long-term strategic positioning in the Saudi market.

Bipartisan Coalition Challenges Trump

The Senate votes represented an unusual bipartisan coalition united by concerns about Yemen civilian casualties, the Khashoggi murder, and abuse of emergency authorities to bypass congressional oversight. Democratic Senators Bob Menendez, Chris Murphy, and Bernie Sanders joined Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Todd Young, and others in supporting the resolutions. This coalition bridged typical partisan divides on foreign policy and defense issues, demonstrating that Saudi actions had generated sufficient outrage to overcome party loyalty and defense industry lobbying. Menendez and Graham’s joint leadership—respectively the top Democrat and Republican on relevant committees—provided bipartisan legitimacy that made opposing the resolutions politically difficult. Senators cited the August 2018 school bus massacre, the October 2016 funeral hall attack, and other documented incidents involving US weapons as evidence that continued arms sales enabled war crimes. The bipartisan nature of the opposition represented a significant political threat to defense contractors, who typically relied on partisan divisions to prevent unified congressional action.

Trump Veto Threat and Defense Contractor Lobbying

President Trump immediately threatened to veto any congressional resolutions blocking the Saudi arms sales, declaring he would not allow Congress to override his emergency determination. Defense contractors including Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing lobbied intensively to maintain Trump’s support, arguing that the sales created American jobs and served strategic interests in countering Iran. Raytheon executives told investors the company remained “aligned with administration policies” on Saudi sales, signaling confidence that presidential vetoes would ultimately preserve their contracts. The contractors’ lobbying emphasized economic arguments—jobs in specific congressional districts, export revenue, maintaining defense industrial base capabilities—rather than addressing humanitarian concerns about weapons misuse. For Raytheon specifically, the Paveway technology transfer represented a strategic priority worth significant lobbying investment, as domestic Saudi production capabilities would generate long-term revenue streams and deepen the US-Saudi military relationship. The lobbying proved effective in maintaining presidential support, though the Senate votes demonstrated that congressional sentiment had shifted significantly against unconstrained Saudi arms access.

Significance

The June 20, 2019 Senate votes blocking Raytheon Paveway sales to Saudi Arabia represented the high-water mark of congressional opposition to defense contractor profits from Yemen war crimes, demonstrating that documented civilian massacres had finally generated sufficient bipartisan outrage to overcome traditional deference to executive branch arms transfer decisions. The 53-vote majority specifically blocking the Raytheon Paveway technology transfer reflected concerns about both immediate Yemen casualties and long-term proliferation of advanced weapons capabilities to a war crimes-committing regime. However, the Senate action ultimately proved symbolic rather than substantive—Trump would veto the resolutions in July 2019, and Congress would fail to override his vetoes, meaning the Raytheon sales proceeded despite bipartisan opposition. The episode revealed both the potential and limitations of congressional oversight of arms sales: lawmakers could muster bipartisan majorities against controversial weapons transfers, but could not overcome presidential vetoes backed by defense industry lobbying. For Raytheon, the Senate votes represented a serious but manageable threat, ultimately neutralized through executive branch alignment and economic arguments about jobs and strategic relationships. The blocked Paveway technology transfer would eventually proceed after Trump’s vetoes, allowing Raytheon to establish Saudi manufacturing partnerships despite congressional opposition. The June 2019 Senate action marked a moment when democratic oversight of arms sales appeared possible, before executive authority and defense contractor influence reasserted control and preserved the weapons pipeline that enabled continued Yemen atrocities.