The Senate on Wednesday defeated, largely along party lines, an effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to advance two joint resolutions that would block the sale of $446.8 million worth of weapons and equipment to Israel.

The first joint resolution would have disapproved a $295 million sale of D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers. The second would have disapproved a $151.8 million sale of 12,000 general purpose 1,000-pound gravity bombs and related support services.

Senators voted 40-59 to reject a motion to discharge the first measure from the Foreign Relations Committee and 36-63 to reject a similar motion for the second measure.

The votes were the latest example of Democrats’ eroding appetite for supporting and supplying arms for Israel’s ongoing conflicts with Hamas, Lebanon and Iran. During a similar vote last July, just 23 Democrats voted with Sanders.

In September 2024, Sanders spearheaded a similar effort to block five arms sales to Israel via joint resolutions of disapproval. None of them garnered more than 19 votes in the Senate.

Since 1974, when Congress amended the Foreign Military Sales Act, only one joint resolution of disapproval (out of 127 filed) has been enacted into law, according to the Congressional Research Service. That effort caused President Ronald Reagan to postpone a major arms sale to Jordan in 1985.

Bombs and bulldozers

Sanders has said that the bombs being sold to Israel are the same kinds of munitions dropped on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran that have killed innocent civilians amid Israel’s multiple wars in recent months.

The bulldozers, he argued, were the same vehicles Israel used to demolish homes in Palestine, raze refugee camps and build “settler-only roads that make a Palestinian state physically impossible.”

In floor remarks ahead of the vote, Sanders panned Israel for the way it carried out its war in Gaza, where large swaths of the strip were reduced to rubble by Israeli bombs in its attempt to defeat the Hamas militant group.

Sanders also criticized Israel’s involvement in the joint U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which is ongoing, and its war against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, which is also ongoing.

“The time is long overdue for members of the U.S. Senate to start listening to the American people and not to AIPAC,” Sanders said, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a staunchly pro-Israel organization. “The time is now to end all U.S. military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government, and a yes vote is an important way forward.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., speaking on the floor ahead of the vote, said he supported Sanders’ effort.

“Make no mistake: A vote to approve arms sales to Israel at this time would be seen as a message of approval for Trump and Netanyahu’s disastrous war against Iran. I will not send that message,” Merkley said.

And even some typically moderate Democrats also agreed.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a member of the Armed Services panel, said on the floor that while he “cannot and will not abandon Israel,” supporting a partner does not mean not asking tough questions.

“The United States and Israel are fighting a war against Iran without a clear strategy or goal,” Kelly said. “Under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, we have seen an expanded war in Lebanon that is putting innocent Lebanese civilians at risk, and ongoing violence against Palestinians and the demolition of their homes in the West Bank. All of this has undermined the path forward for peace.”

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, however, said refusing to sell Israel the weapons would send the message that the U.S. was ready to abandon a key ally and leave it vulnerable to further Iranian attack, undermining American reliability.

“That is unacceptable,” Risch said.