Congress is turning to the power of the purse in its efforts to force Turkey to choose between the US F-35 jet and a Russian missile-defense system.
The House foreign aid spending panel last week advanced annual spending legislation that would prohibit the Donald Trump administration from transferring the fifth-generation stealth aircraft to Turkey unless Secretary of State Mike Pompeo certifies that Ankara has scrapped plans to buy the S-400 from Russia. Lawmakers in both chambers have previously sought to block the F-35 sale as stand-alone bills, but including the language in the foreign aid spending package increases the likelihood that it will become US law.