Rubio Bypasses Congress to Send Israel $4 Billion in Arms

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked “emergency authorities” to bypass Congress and send $4 billion in weapons to Israel, the second time in a month that the Trump administration has skirted the process of congressional approval for sending arms to the country.Mr.Rubio did not explain in a statement announcing the decision on Saturday why he was using an emergency authority.

He said only that the Trump administration would “continue to use all available tools to fulfill America’s longstanding commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats.”State Department officials told the two congressional committees in the House and Senate that review foreign weapons sales about the emergency declaration on Friday.At least one congressional official privately expressed alarm at the bypassing of the review.

Several of the cases of munitions to be sent to Israel were undergoing review in Congress.But one large case worth about $2 billion had not been sent by the State Department to Congress for review, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about sensitive weapons deals.The Pentagon announced details of that sale to Israel on Friday.

The announcement lists several possible mixes of bombs that would be delivered, including more than 35,000 2,000-pound bombs.Israel has been dropping 2,000-pound bombs in Gaza, a densely populated strip of 2 million people that is about the size of Las Vegas.U.S.

military officers have said the bombs are unsuitable for urban combat.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....