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State Department declares wartime emergency to bypass Congress on $23B in Mideast arms sales

On March 20, 2026, the State Department declared a national-security "wartime emergency" to bypass Congress and force through more than $23 billion in arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked emergency-certification authority under the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review window across 11 weapons packages — some still under review on Capitol Hill, others never formally submitted to Congress. Coverage described it as the administration's second use of emergency authority to circumvent congressional approval of arms transfers since the war with Iran began.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On March 20, 2026, the State Department declared a national-security "wartime emergency" to bypass Congress and force through more than $23 billion in arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked emergency-certification authority under the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review window across 11 weapons packages — some still under review on Capitol Hill, others never formally submitted to Congress.

Coverage described it as the administration's second use of emergency authority to circumvent congressional approval of arms transfers since the war with Iran began.

The Arms Export Control Act gives lawmakers a fixed window to review and block large arms sales before they proceed, and permits the executive to waive it only by certifying a genuine emergency — a narrow exception, not a routine workaround. Declaring a "wartime emergency" to push roughly $23 billion across eleven packages at once, including deals Congress had not yet seen, treats an emergency provision as an ordinary substitute for legislative approval and sidelines the separation of powers.

Why we recorded this

Congress holds a statutory role in approving major foreign weapons transfers: the Arms Export Control Act gives lawmakers a fixed window to review and block large arms sales before they proceed, a check on how the United States commits force and credibility abroad. The law lets the executive waive that window only by certifying a genuine emergency — a narrow exception, not a routine workaround. Declaring a "wartime emergency" to push roughly $23 billion across eleven packages at once, including deals Congress had not yet seen, sidelines that review and treats an emergency provision as an ordinary substitute for legislative approval. Recording it documents how a power built for true crises can be used to bypass the separation of powers.

Sources

  1. Administration Declares Wartime Emergency to Bypass Congress on Weapons Sales — The New York Times primary accessed June 10, 2026
  2. Early Edition: March 23, 2026 — Just Security secondary accessed June 10, 2026
  3. Trump Admin Uses Wartime Powers to Sidestep Congress and Push $23B in Arms Sales to Gulf States — Mediaite secondary accessed June 10, 2026
  4. US moves to approve more than $16 billion in air defense sales to Middle East — Defense News secondary accessed June 10, 2026

See also