Congress would have to affirmatively, rather than tacitly, approve any agreement to allow exports of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, under bills introduced in both chambers Tuesday by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act in the Senate, while Reps. Luke Messer (R-Ind.) and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) submitted an identical measure in the House.
Unless enacted immediately the bill will become null and void in a matter of weeks, when a new session of Congress is scheduled to begin. However, the measure still resonates as a bipartisan rebuke of President Donald Trump’s plan to establish a bilateral cooperation deal that would smooth the export of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.
Congress, more or less as a group, has recoiled from nuclear cooperation between the two nations after Riyadh was implicated in the murder of U.S. resident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October.
Any export of U.S. nuclear technology requires a so-called 123 agreement, named for Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act. The agreements require the importing nation to build only peaceful nuclear power programs, with strict safeguards to prevent technology from being weaponized.
Currently, 123 agreements are approved automatically, unless Congress passes a joint resolution opposing them. If the No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act became law, it would present a U.S.-Saudi 123 agreement for congressional approval by default.
