Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both Democrats, on Sunday called on Congress to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia in response to OPEC+ curbing oil supply by 2 million barrels per day, equal to 2% of global supply.
Saudi Arabia is OPEC's de facto leader, and the White House last week said it was "clear" Opec+ was "aligning with Russia."
"Members of Congress are already talking about how best to respond," Khanna and Blumenthal wrote in an op-ed in Politico, titled "The Best Way to Respond to Saudi Arabia's Embrace of Putin."
"Some propose extending domestic antitrust laws to international commerce. Others propose reviving a GOP initiative to withdraw U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia. But that idea has failed previously, given that the U.S. would rather have its own troops there than Russian or Chinese troops.
"A simpler, far more urgent move to fortify U.S. national security would be to pause all U.S. military supplies, sales, and other weapons aid to Saudi Arabia."
The kingdom rebuffed criticism it was colluding with Russia, which is included in the OPEC+ group, to drive prices higher and said the West was often driven by "wealth arrogance" when criticizing the group.
The White House said President Joe Biden would continue to assess whether to release further strategic oil stocks to lower prices.
"The president is disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's invasion of Ukraine," the White House said.
U.S. officials have said part of the reason Washington wants lower oil prices is to deprive Moscow of oil revenue. Biden traveled to Riyadh this year but failed to secure any firm cooperation commitments on energy. Relations have been further strained as Saudi Arabia has not condemned Moscow's actions in Ukraine.
Khanna and Blumenthal in the op-ed said Saudi Arabia could not easily find new weapons suppliers, giving the U.S. an advantage.
"Maybe it is worth considering some ancient Russian wisdom ourselves. Over a century ago, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov warned, 'Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.' Perhaps the same is true about leverage. It is of no value unless used," they wrote.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.