which confirmed that FBI investigations had violated guidelines, though it fell short of finding that the bureau had been acting out of political bias. As the Defending Rights & Dissent report notes, just days after the inspector general published its 2010 report on FBI abuses in the Bush era, agents raided the Minneapolis-based Anti-War Committee and the homes of peace activists across the Midwest. The raids followed a yearslong infiltration by an undercover agent who failed to find any plans by the activists to carry out violence and so proceeded to come up with one herself. A year later, the FBI began surveilling Occupy activists before the first protester even arrived at Zuccotti Park, using its counterterrorism authorities to investigate an economic justice movement it claimed might becomeA bipartisan coalition of senators, including Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, Utah Republican Mike Lee, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and Minnesota Democrat Al Franken, moved to block the transaction. They cited concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, and questioned the wisdom of U.S.-supplied arms race in the region.

In a 71-27 procedural vote Wednesday afternoon, the Senate decided to table the senators’ objections to the deal — effectively destroying any chance at blocking the arms sale.

The approval of the arms deal comes at a pivotal time for General Dynamics, which manufactures the armaments at issue. Last quarter, its combat division experienced a 7 percent dip in sales, and the company has been slashing jobs at its Ohio tank manufacturing center.

General Dynamics has been spending big on politics in recent