WASHINGTON, Sept 17 - House Democrats on Thursday formally moved to block a 30-year civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, filing a resolution of disapproval during the statutory 90-day congressional review period that opened after the White House transmitted the proposed pact in August.
The Democratic lawmakers and a number of nonproliferation advocates have objected to the terms of the agreement on the grounds that it does not explicitly bar Saudi Arabia from pursuing uranium enrichment or from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel - two technical routes that critics say could in principle be used to produce weapons-grade material.
"A region already gripped by conflict and escalation does not need another nuclear power," the four Democrats said in a joint statement. The group includes Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, who is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, along with Representatives Brad Sherman and John Garamendi of California, and Don Beyer of Virginia.
The Trump administration maintains that the text of the agreement contains the nonproliferation protections required by law. Still, the pact has drawn comparisons to the 2009 civil nuclear deal the United Arab Emirates struck with Washington, in which Abu Dhabi accepted restrictions on enrichment and reprocessing - often referred to as the "gold standard." Critics note that Saudi Arabia did not accept those same constraints in the current draft.
Lawmakers also raised concerns about aspects of the arrangement that remain classified. Members of Congress have called for the full agreement to be disclosed, including any classified "side letters" negotiated with Riyadh.
There is uncertainty over whether the agreement will move forward in the absence of Saudi normalization of relations with Israel. President Trump has publicly linked the pact's implementation to such normalization, but congressional aides said there is no provision in the transmitted agreement that addresses that condition directly.
Among the commercial elements of the agreement, the 30-year cooperation deal envisions the construction of AP1000 reactors - a development estimated in the tens of billions of dollars - that would be a major project for Westinghouse. Westinghouse is described in the agreement context as being jointly owned by Canada-based Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management, which would stand to benefit from reactor construction work.
Timing for any House floor consideration of the Democrats' disapproval resolution is unclear. Speaker Mike Johnson sent members home until after the November 3 midterm elections, complicating the schedule for potential action.
Historically, Congress has passed many disapproval resolutions on a variety of matters, but lawmakers have never successfully passed a resolution specifically to block a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, these peaceful nuclear cooperation agreements automatically enter into force after 90 days unless Congress enacts a disapproval resolution to prevent them from doing so.
Contextual note on congressional review - The statutory framework gives legislators a time-limited window to act. If no disapproval resolution is adopted within that 90-day review period, the agreement would proceed automatically under the law cited.