The US Senate rejected a resolution on Tuesday that would have prohibited the proposed sale of advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, missile launchers and other weapons and support to Saudi Arabia.

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The vote was 67 to 30 against the resolution, which was introduced by Republicans Rand Paul and Mike Lee, as well as Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats.

While many US lawmakers consider Saudi Arabia an important partner in the Middle East, members of Congress also have criticized the country for its involvement in the war in Yemen, a conflict considered one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

"Exporting more missiles to Saudi Arabia does nothing but further this conflict and pour more gasoline on already raging fire," Sanders said in a speech urging support for the resolution of disapproval.

They have refused to approve military sales for the kingdom without assurances US equipment would not be used to kill civilians. Backers of the sale noted that US President Joe Biden's administration has already barred US sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia.

"I completely agree with the need to hold Saudi leadership accountable for a variety of actions... but I also believe that it is important that our security partners know that we will uphold our commitments," said Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The weapons package, which was approved by the State Department as well as leaders of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees, would include 280 AIM-120C-7/C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), 596 LAU-128 Missile Rail Launchers (MRL) along other equipment and support.

Raytheon Technologies makes the missiles.

The Biden administration said earlier on Tuesday it strongly opposed the resolution.

Passage "would undermine the president's commitment to aid in our partner's defenses at a time of increased missile and drone attacks against civilians in Saudi Arabia," the White House Office of Management of Budget said in a statement.

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US Senator Bernie Sanders introduced Thursday a resolution blocking a $735 million weapons sale to Israel, mirroring a symbolic action by the House of Representatives in response to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

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"At a moment when US-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a congressional debate," Sanders said.

President Joe Biden's administration had approved the sale of $735 million in weapons to Israel this year, and sent it to Congress for formal review.

Sanders said Americans need to take a "hard look" at whether the weapons sales fuel conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

His resolution follows a measure introduced by US Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan and Rashida Tlaib, which has at least six other co-sponsors, including some of the most left-leaning Democrats in the House.

The conflict has prompted calls from some lawmakers for a more concerted US effort to stop the violence. The measures were unlikely to pass in either the House or Senate, where bipartisan support for arms sales for Israel has traditionally been strong.

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The Senate fell short Wednesday trying to halt the Trump administration's proposed $23 billion arms sales to the United Arab Emirates. 

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Senators argued that the sale of F-35 fighter jets and drones was unfolding too quickly and with too many questions.

The administration has billed it as a way to deter Iran, but the UAE would become the first Arab nation to possess the stealth warplanes.

"Can a lasting peace be purchased with more weapons?" asked Kentucky Senator Rand Paul in a speech ahead of the vote.

Congress has shown a willingness to confront Trump in one main area – on defense policy. But on Wednesday, the effort to turn back the arms sales failed to reach the 51-vote majority needed for passage. Trump was expected to veto the two resolutions anyway.

The showdown over the sale is potentially a final power play between the executive and legislative branches in the final weeks of Trump's presidency. The Senate will take up the broader defense bill soon.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said in a statement after the vote that he was eager to work with President-elect Joe Biden's administration "to take a closer look at each of these sales before any transfers are completed."

Murphy said the UAE's track record in war-torn Yemen and Libya, and its "complicated" relationships with China and Russia raise more questions than answers.

"I'm not here to say that we shouldn't be in the security business with the UAE," Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during the debate.

But, he said, "without resolving those issues, is this the moment to be selling for the first time ever F-35s, armed drones into the heart of the Middle East?"

The arms sale emerged following the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel.

In notifying Congress last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo authorized the sale, saying it was in recognition of the "deepening relationship" with the UAE and its need to deter threats from Iran.

Pompeo said the "historic agreement" reached with the Abraham Accords offered a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to transform the region's "strategic landscape."

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Trump's decision to sell the weapons in a way that would have bypassed congressional review infuriated lawmakers from both parties. In a bipartisan pushback, Democrats and Republicans banded together to pass resolutions blocking the $8.1 billion weapons sales to the US allies in the Persian Gulf.

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Votes to override Trump's vetoes failed, 45-40, 45-39 and 46-41. A two-thirds vote was needed in each case.

The White House argued that stopping the sales would send a signal that the United States doesn't stand by its partners and allies, particularly at a time when threats from hostile countries such as Iran are increasing. Saudi Arabia has long been a regional rival to Iran. Its strategic importance has grown as tensions with Iran have mounted after Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

The Senate votes came as the House Oversight Committee released a report criticizing the Trump administration over its apparent willingness to allow the president's friends and allies undue influence over US policy toward Saudi Arabia.

New documents obtained by the committee "raise serious questions about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the president's friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons," the report said.

The report "exposes how corporate and foreign interests are using their unique access to advocate for the transfer of US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the panel's Democratic chairman.

Cummings, who has repeatedly targeted the Trump administration in a series of investigations, came under sharp attack from Trump this weekend, when the president called the congressman's district a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" where "no human being would want to live."

The 50-page Oversight report, released Monday, says Trump's longtime personal friend, campaign donor and inaugural chairman, Tom Barrack, negotiated directly with Trump and other White House officials to seek positions within the administration, including special envoy to the Middle East and ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

At the same time, Barrack was promoting the interests of US corporations seeking to profit from the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia; advocating on behalf of foreign interests seeking to obtain US nuclear technology; and taking steps for his own company, Colony NorthStar, to profit from the proposals, the report said.

One of the companies leading an effort to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia, IP3 International, repeatedly pressed the Trump administration not to require Saudi Arabia to commit to a rigorous "gold standard" in any agreement with the US, complaining it would lock them out of lucrative nuclear contracts, the report said.

IP3 officials had "unprecedented access" to the highest levels of the Trump administration, including meetings with Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Cabinet Secretaries Rick Perry, Steven Mnuchin, Mike Pompeo, Rex Tillerson, James Mattis and Wilbur Ross, the report said.

The report also criticized the White House for refusing to produce any documents in the investigation and said communications obtained from outside sources indicate that Kushner and other officials used personal email or text accounts to communicate about Saudi-related deals.

The private communications appear to violate White House policy and the Presidential Records Act, the report said.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

A spokesman for Barrack said he has been cooperating with the Oversight panel and provided documents the committee requested.

The spokesman, Owen Blicksilver, said Barrack's investments and business activities are well known and are intended to "better align" Middle East and US objectives. Barrack has never served in the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has approved seven applications for US companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia. Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the US technology is transferred without proper safeguards.

Congress is increasingly uneasy with the close relationship between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia. Trump has made the kingdom a centerpiece of his foreign policy in the Middle East as he tries to further isolate Iran. In the process, Trump has brushed off criticism over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudis' role in the war in Yemen.

"From the start, this administration has failed to demonstrate what kind of national security threat or quote-unquote 'emergency' from Iran warranted fast-tracking the sale of these weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE," said Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The pending sale "not only is a Saudi jobs program, it is also a give-away of sensitive US military technology," Menendez said.

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