The window for US President Joe Biden’s administration to broker a long-sought normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the November presidential election has closed, a Democratic lawmaker and a senior Republican Senate aide told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.
The normalization deal on its own was always an uphill battle, since Saudi Arabia is demanding that Israel agree to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a framework Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
But the US has sought to advance the normalization deal in parallel to its own defense pact with Saudi Arabia, which would require Senate ratification.
The two congressional sources speaking to The Times of Israel maintained that there is not enough time left in the congressional calendar for the Senate to hold the hearings necessary to approve the defense deal.
Indeed, there are less than four weeks in which the US Senate is in session before it recesses on September 27 for the last time until the election. This period includes the month of August, when Congress is only open for two days. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could theoretically try and call lawmakers back from recess in October, but the two congressional sources acknowledged that the administration would not be able to secure the backing of the roughly 10 Republicans needed to approve the pact weeks before the presidential election.
END TIMES PROPHECY WATCH 
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