Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said he will greenlight President Trump’s request for a $1 billion arms sale to Israel when he is comfortable with answers the administration provides to his questions.

Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, did not detail his concerns over the arms sale in a brief conversation with The Hill, saying such discussions are classified. 

But he said his concerns overrode the Trump administration’s desire to have a $1 billion weapons package prepared during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week. 

“This is not a situation — Biden, especially Trump — where a king comes in and says, ‘This is what I want,’ and you just do it automatically. … And in this case, because Prime Minister Netanyahu is here, you want to make it look like something,” Meeks said. 

“No. I’m going to do the job that I took an oath to do. And what I have done, and continue to do, on a responsible manner — of reviewing … when I get my questions answered, then I’m fine.”

Trump had readied a $1 billion weapons package for Israel ahead of Netanyahu’s visit. The package includes 4,700 1,000-pound bombs, worth more than $700 million, as well as armored bulldozers built by Caterpillar, worth more than $300 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Meeks holds unique power to delay the president from moving forward on arms sales over a certain dollar amount. 

It’s long-standing practice for the State Department to informally notify the top four lawmakers of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees of arms sales to other countries if the price tag exceeds a certain amount. For government to government sales, that number is $14 million. This is the first step in a two-step notification process to Congress. 

If one of the leaders of the Senate or House foreign committees raises questions, the State Department generally holds back on submitting a formal notification to Congress on the arms sale until the lawmaker is satisfied. 

“The Department generally will not formally notify an arms transfer if a member of Congress raises significant concerns by placing a hold during the informal review stage,” the State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) wrote in an August 2020 report. 

Meeks didn’t characterize his absence of a go-ahead on the arms sale as a “hold,” although that term is used by lawmakers, congressional staff and U.S. officials.

“I am review[ing] and asking questions, and I want a response to my questions,” Meeks told The Hill when asked why he placed a hold.

There’s no timeline for Meeks to lift his hold. Still, Trump may have options to move forward. 

The OIG report said the State Department “is not precluded from proceeding with an arms transfer subject to a congressional hold, the Department must still formally notify Congress of the proposed transfer, consistent with the requirements outlined in the AECA [Arms Export Control Act].”

In 2019, Trump overrode a congressional hold on arms transfers to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — the move that triggered the OIG review. 

The review found, in general, that the administration adhered to the law but did not assess fully the risks to human life or take appropriate mitigation measures. At that time, the U.S. weapons were being used by Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Yemen’s civil war. 

The process of the review was mired in scandal. 

Trump fired the inspector general at the time, Steve Linick, as he was undertaking the review. Trump’s appointed inspector general recused himself from the review, and the report was completed by Diana Shaw, acting inspector general.

Last month, Trump fired multiple inspector generals, including Shaw.

Mike Lillis contributed.