The United States currently has three contracts with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-owned arms dealer, for military equipment totaling $1.1 billion. But Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut passed two amendments to ban future contracts with Rosoboron, which she says supplies Syria with weapons.
The House voted 423 to zero in support of DeLauro’s bill to prohibit those contracts. She explained to msnbc’s Alex Witt the “issue is that they are no bid contracts and this is also the arms dealer that is supplying Syria with missiles and other weaponry.”
The Department of Defense had claimed that contracts with Russia is the only means to attain MI-17 helicopters, which are used in Afghanistan by Afghan National Security Forces. But DeLauro said such claims were “hyperbole” on the part of the Defense Department.
She also lauded the importance of the House initiative “When Women Succeed, America Succeeds”—an economic agenda aimed at helping working women.
“Women are struggling and what we need to do is to raise their income, make sure they get equal pay for equal work, same pay-same job, raise the minimum wage, and provide women with educational opportunities,” she said. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Russia’s state-owned arms dealer, Rosoboron-Export. The correct name is Rosoboronexport.
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