(Bloomberg) -- Congress is likely to halt weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in response to the OPEC+ decision to slash oil production, Senator Chris Coons, a close ally of President Joe Biden, said Friday. 

“I think you’ll see both the administration and the Senate take action, and one of the most likely actions is to stop any future arms sales,” Coons, a Foreign Relations Committee member, said in a CNN interview. 

His remarks show building momentum in the Democrat-controlled Congress to curtail military assistance as a way of punishing Saudi Arabia for the slash in production targets, which the Riyadh-led cartel announced about a month before the November midterm elections.

The Democratic senator called the oil-production cut “a punch in the gut” that helps Russia “fund their war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Coons, who represents Biden’s home state of Delaware, spoke days after Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who chairs the Foreign Relations panel, called for a “freeze” of all aspects of the US-Saudi relationship including “arms sales and security cooperation” beyond what is necessary to defend US personnel and interests. 

Biden earlier this week announced his administration would undertake a review of its relationship with Saudi Arabia. Biden said the kingdom would suffer unspecified “consequences.” He did not, however, say whether arms sales could be stopped and did not announce a time frame for completion of the review.

Any proposal that blocks additional arms sales could leave room for allowing assistance like support for contractors and spare-part shipments to proceed, without which the Saudis would be unable to maintain their sizable arsenal of US military equipment. 

Biden could also veto any legislation blocking or limiting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, like Donald Trump did as president in 2019. Some national security experts have cautioned against such a move, saying it would hurt the Saudis’ fight against Iran-backed proxies in Yemen and across the region. Republicans could also allow the sales to proceed if they take control of Congress after the November elections. 

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