Censors Bernie Sanders, I-VT, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., implement a War Powers resolution to force a Senate floor vote on ending unauthorized US involvement in the Saudi war. SJRES 54 has been introduced. in Yemen. A floor vote on the proposal is expected next week. Co-sponsors currently include Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Corey Booker, D.N.J.
Sanders-Lee Yemen War Powers Resolution Will Get Votes. Although the device has never been used to force a Senate vote on war powers, it has been used to force Senate votes on arms sales. In September 2016 and June 2017, these provisions of the law were used to force Senate votes on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
The motion could pass in the Senate, as the June 2017 vote margin narrowed. Forty-seven senators – 43 Democrats and four Republicans – voted against Saudi Arabia’s continuation of the war in Yemen. If the same 47 votes against Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen again – and the war and humanitarian devastation has only gotten worse since June – there would be four more senators 51 who voted against Saudi Arabia’s war.
In June, five Democratic senators voted to continue Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen: Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Mark Warner of Virginia, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Bill Nelson of Florida. Doug Jones of Alabama was not yet in the Senate. If there were 47 votes in June, and if four of these six Democrats voted against the war, the motion would pass, even though more Republicans did not vote for it than the four Republicans who voted against the war in June. did. Groups pushing for a yes vote on the Democratic side include MoveOn, Credo, Avaaz and Indivisible.
In addition, groups on the right that were not active on the June vote are supporting Sanders-Lee’s proposal, including FreedomWorks, In Defense of Christians and Breitbart. So there may be more than four Republicans voting for the Sanders-Lee bill.
If the Sanders-Lee motion is passed, it is likely that the Trump administration will comply with the Senate demand. The presidents withdrew when faced with widespread congressional backlash over war powers. In August 2013, President Barack Obama threatened to bomb Syria without the authorization of Congress. Two hundred Republican and Democratic House members signed a letter to Obama saying that under the Constitution and the War Powers Preamble, you cannot do this without our prior authorization.
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Obama withdrew and agreed to seek Congress’s nod. When he could not get it, he sought a diplomatic solution. Later, Obama’s adviser Ben Rhodes admitted that because of the threat of impeachment, Obama had not acted without the authorization of Congress.
President Donald Trump himself in December called on Saudi Arabia to completely end its blockade of goods in Yemen; Two days later, the White House called for an immediate end to hostilities in Yemen. It will be difficult for the Trump administration to explain why US involvement in the Saudi war should continue when the Senate has declared such involvement unconstitutional and insisted it be stopped, even The administration itself has said that hostilities must end, even as the war created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with millions on the brink of famine, even American taxpayers. are paying for humanitarian aid to ease the near-famine that Saudi Arabia is deliberately causing in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia will not continue the war without US military support. Foreign Policy pointed out that the Saudi-UAE “daily bombing campaign would not have been possible without the continued presence of US Air Force tanker aircraft refueling coalition jets.” Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a CIA veteran, said: “If tonight the United States and the United Kingdom told King Salman, ‘This war has to end,’ it will end tomorrow. Royal Saudi Air Force Can’t function without American and British support.”
But if Trump does not accept the demand of the Senate, then the matter will return to the House. HConRes81 was introduced in September by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Cal., Thomas Massey, R-Ky., Mark Pokan, D-Wis., and Walter Jones, R.N.C. It currently has 50 co-sponsors. At that time, the leadership of the House was able to stop the floor action. But in the wake of a resolution passed in the Senate, the political dynamics in the House will be completely different. The pressure for the House to take up the Senate resolution would intensify, and members of the House like Khanna could vote to implement the War Powers motion.
If the Sanders-Lee proposal can pass the Senate, the Allied legislation can pass the House. Already in June 2016, the last time the House was allowed to vote on any aspect of this war, 40 House Republicans joined 164 House Democrats to virtually block the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. can be done.
It is hard to imagine that Trump would risk impeachment if the Saudi war in Yemen continues. Does Trump Really Care That Much About Preserving Conflict?
