Lindsey Graham leads Senate in bipartisan rebuke of Trump's Saudi arm sales

A bipartisan swath of senators on Thursday voted to block President Trump's emergency arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

In the first of three resolutions, all Democrats and seven Republicans joined for a 53-45 vote to express their disapproval of Trump's planned arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The remaining two resolutions are expected to pass as well, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) leading the charge, The Washington Post reports.

Last month, Trump announced he'd use his emergency powers to let American companies sell $8.1 billion worth of munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Much of Congress had loudly opposed the arms sales, particularly following Saudi Arabia's alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That prompted Graham to join Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) in co-sponsoring 22 separate resolutions blocking the sales, though they later condensed the number to three in a deal with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), per The New York Times. The deal will also force the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to consider a bill limiting a president's authority on using emergency powers for arms sales.

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At least four Senate Republicans, including Graham, are expected to block the remaining two resolutions, the Post says. Still, it's unlikely the resolutions will get the 67 votes they'd need to avoid Trump's inevitable veto. The Democratic-held House is also expected to have no problem passing the bills.