in november, my republican colleagues, as well as democrats, are going to be very receptive, judging by my conversations with them, to the idea that there have to be consequences and a suspension in arm sales is a good way to go about it. the saudis need to come to their senses, and they are aligned against iran, but that interest alone is not a reason to continue these arm sales. there are other ways to push back and oppose and stop iran, for example, from acquiring nuclear weapons. if you see politics may be involved and why the republicans have thus far been non-committal, given we re weeks away from the midterms. i m curious to get your reaction and response as to why, when republican senator rand paul, introduced legislation last year to halt the sale of $650 million of missiles to saudi arabia, very few democrats supported that sllegislation.
repercussions for the saudi snub. when the house and senate get back, there will be consequences for what they ve done with russia. i m not going to get into what i consider and what i have in mind, but there will be consequences. with slow oil production expected to spike prices, the white house says it s time to take another look at the u.s. relationship with the saudis. but he was very clear. there will be consequences. we believe the decision that opec plus made last week was a mistake. it was short-sighted. so we have said i said this yesterday during the briefing that the from the beginning the president has talked about recalibrating, readjusting our relationship with saudi arabia. so white house allies on capitol hill are pushing the white house to stop arm sales to the saudi kingdom. steve, ainsley, brian?
cabinet officials. absolutely. we ll be covering all this for you at cnn. until then, always great to have you all on. we appreciate your time. join cnn for live coverage of the january 6th hearings, as they resume with new witnesses and evidence. that s today at 12:00 p.m. eastern. still to come, president biden says it s time to rethink our relationship with saudi arabia over its decision to slash oil production. today democrats have a new bill that would do just that by stopping arm sales to the middle east nation. is the president willing to sign it? we ll tubing senator richard blumenthal behind the legislation next rjts plus, more on the key inflation measure out this morning. what s the impact you re going to feel at home? he s been ordered to pay the sandy hook families he s tormented more than $1 billion. will they see a dime? we ve learned alex jones will appeal the massive verdict against him. roster ever creat.
today saudi arabia again defending its decision to slash oil production. it says the move to dramatically cut output by more than 2 million barrels are day was not politically motivated by the u.s. president biden says it s time to rethink america s relationship. introducing a bill to suspend all arm sales to saudi arabia for the next year, one of the senators, richard blumenthal of connecticut joins us now. currently serving on the judiciary and armed services committee. senator, thank you for joining us. you and congressman ro khanna introduced this bicamera bill yesterday. it would include suspending weapon aid to saudi arabia, the lead importer, we should note, of u.s.-made weapons. have you heard anything from the administration suggesting they would support this bill? the president has said very
some consequences for what they have done with russia. what kind of consequences? would you consider suspending arms sales? i m not going to get into what i m going to consider, but there will be consequences. joining us now have congressman khanna, always a pleasure to see you. you and senator blumenthal are pushing a bill to halt arms sales for a year. why? what gals many of us is the intud. we provide saudi arabia with over 70% of their arms. we provide them with extraordinary defense. for decades, we have been helping them. now when americans are suffering at the pump, they are cutting production to hurt america. that s just wrong. there has to be consequences. one of those consequences is suspending the arm sales to the saudis. for one year. they have been paying top dollar