The Senate Votes on Antiwar Yemen Resolution Tomorrow
The Senate is expected to vote tomorrow on the new Sanders-Lee-Murphy antiwar Yemen resolution, S.J.Res. 7:
The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to cut off American military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, preparing again to rebuke President Trump for his continued defense of the kingdom after the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
There should still be enough votes to pass the “clean” Senate resolution again. Several of the Republican senators that voted for the previous resolution last year are still in the chamber, and Senate Democrats remain united in favor of voting for an end to U.S. involvement. Thanks to continued Republican efforts to block and derail efforts to end U.S. support for the war on Yemen, the Senate won’t be voting on the resolution passed by the House earlier this year. The addition of an irrelevant amendment on anti-Semitism to the House resolution allowed Senate Republicans to deny it privileged status under the War Powers Resolution, and McConnell won’t let it come up for a vote otherwise:
A cynical, insidious weaponization of accusations of anti-Semitism. pic.twitter.com/Mx7aICBOlg
— J Street (@jstreetdotorg) March 12, 2019
The Senate will have to pass the new resolution, S.J.Res. 7, and then the House will vote again.
It is unfortunate that it has taken so long for both houses of Congress to vote together to end U.S. involvement in this indefensible war, but this month it will finally happen. It should have happened years ago, but cynical and cowardly Republican leaders were determined not to let it come to a vote. When this resolution passes both houses, it will be an important rebuke to the president and the Saudi coalition, but it will also be a major defeat for the war’s shameless enablers in Congress. Voting to end U.S. involvement in the war is only the first step in bringing peace to Yemen, but it is essential and long overdue.