While President Joe Biden was in the Middle East this week, three senators submitted a bipartisan resolution to stop the US engagement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
“This conflict has resulted in the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster today, and it is past time to halt the United States’ role in these atrocities.”
The resolution is sponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and it already has the support of a bipartisan coalition of over 100 House members, according to the trio.
“We must cease the unlawful and unconstitutional engagement of US armed troops in the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen, and Congress must reclaim its authority over war,” Sanders said in a statement that detailed the region’s poor conditions.
“More than 85,000 children in Yemen have already starved, and millions more face famine and death,” he said. “More than 70% of Yemen’s population already relies on humanitarian food aid, and the United Nations has warned that the death toll might rise to 1.3 million by 2030.”
“This war has generated the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster today,” Sanders asserted, “and it is past time to cease US responsibility in those crimes.” “Let us pass this resolution so that we may focus on diplomacy to bring this conflict to a conclusion.”
While a cease-fire in Yemen has been in effect for many months, peace campaigners and progressive politicians have continued to push for an end to the United States’ backing for the years-long conflict.
“The war in Yemen has been an unmitigated disaster for which all parties to the conflict share responsibility,” Leahy said Thursday. “Why are we supporting a corrupt theocracy that brutalizes its own people, in a war that is best known for causing immense suffering and death among impoverished, defenseless civilians?”
Both Leahy and Warren highlighted that US participation was never approved by Congress.
“The American people, through their elected representatives in Congress, never authorized U.S. involvement in the war—but Congress abdicated its constitutional powers and failed to prevent our country from involving itself in this crisis,” Warren said.
Shortly after assuming office, Biden said that the United States will no longer back the Saudi-led coalition’s “offensive operations” in Yemen. His administration, however, has continued to authorize arms sales while also providing maintenance and logistical assistance.
On Friday, President Trump visited Saudi Arabia. According to Responsible Statecraft, “in an op-ed outlining the purpose for the trip, Biden lauded an ongoing truce in Yemen, but didn’t indicate whether he would urge for an end to the conflict.”
The senators’ resolution, which follows a similar one submitted in the House last month, would “follow through on Biden’s vow” from last year by:
- Ending U.S. intelligence sharing for the purpose of enabling offensive Saudi-led coalition strikes;
- Ending U.S. logistical support for offensive Saudi-led coalition strikes, including the provision of maintenance and spare parts to coalition members flying warplanes which are bombing Yemen; and
- Prohibiting U.S. military personnel from being assigned to command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany Saudi-led coalition forces engaged in hostilities without specific statutory authorization.
According to the statement, the resolution “is considered privileged in the Senate and can obtain a vote on the floor as soon as 10 calendar days after introduction.”