Despite the passage of the antiwar Yemen resolution (H.J.Res. 37) earlier this month, the Senate won’t get to vote on it because of an irrelevant amendment added to the House bill at the last minute:

A House-passed bill to halt U.S. involvement in Yemen’s deadly civil war will not get a vote in the Senate, a setback to Democrats and Republicans who sought to cut off U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

The Senate parliamentarian ruled that an amendment to the House-passed bill which contains language condemning anti-Semitism was not “germane” to the Yemen War Powers resolution — a decision that allows Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to block a vote on the measure. The legislation initially had “privileged” status, giving supporters an end run around McConnell, who has long opposed the effort.

“It’s no surprise that the Republican leadership in the Senate would try to use any means to thwart the will of the Congress and thwart the will of the people. It’s just disgraceful,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said in an interview.

Congressional Republicans have once again outdone themselves in their craven and cynical efforts to stymie a resolution calling for an end to U.S. involvement in the war on Yemen. With very few exceptions, House and Senate Republicans have disgraced themselves with their knee-jerk support for an indefensible policy. Thanks to their stubborn defense of aiding and abetting Saudi coalition crimes, they now own that policy along with the Trump administration. The next time that an antiwar resolution comes up for a vote in either chamber, supporters of the resolution have to do whatever they can to reject any more of these irrelevant amendments that jeopardize the entire effort to end U.S. involvement in the war.

The Senate resolution’s co-sponsors are not giving up on it, and will introduce a clean version of S.J.Res. 7 soon:

Despite the parliamentarian’s ruling, senators still plan to force a vote on a clean version of the Yemen War Powers resolution, one authored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).

Congressional Republicans are trying to weaponize anti-Semitism as part of their blocking maneuvers to enable continued support for a despicable war that has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It is a deeply disgusting tactic and deserves to be condemned as the cheap, cynical ploy that it is.