Senate to vote on ending US role in Yemen war — again

If it passes the Senate and House, Trump is likely to veto the measure.

The Senate is expected to vote this week, perhaps even on Wednesday, to end America’s involvement in the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen — potentially rebuking President Donald Trump and forcing him to veto the measure.

The US helps the Saudi-led coalition by providing them with intelligence, selling them arms and ammunition, and, until late last year, fueling coalition planes that shell targets in Yemen. They’ve played a critical role in a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead and millions more suffering from starvation and disease. Some senators now think it’s time to get out.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Chris Murphy (D-CT), invokes the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which states that if US troops are involved in “hostilities” abroad “without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution.”

This is the second time the GOP-controlled Senate has voted on this bill. Last December, the same measure passed by a 56-41 margin. But then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan opted not to hold a vote on the legislation in his chamber, thereby killing it in the last Congress.

So the expected vote this week is somewhat of a do-over for the bill’s champions. “This war is both a humanitarian and a strategic disaster, and Congress has the opportunity to end it,” Sanders said in a Tuesday statement. According to humanitarian agencies, at least 85,000 children have starved to death in Yemen since the war began and around 14 million are at risk of famine.

The Yemen vote is really about Saudi Arabia

If the legislation passes the Senate, it will surely make it through the Democrat-led House. That will probably force Trump to veto the measure to keep what he considers a vital alliance with Saudi Arabia intact.

Last year, the White House said a vote to end US involvement in the Yemen war “would harm bilateral relationships in the region and negatively impact the ability of the United States to prevent the spread of violent extremist organizations.”

But the Washington-Riyadh relationship came under serious strain last October after the killing of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi, who was a US resident, was killed and allegedly dismembered inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul. Senators, including some who have historically backed the US-Saudi relationship, were angry about the killing. Shortly after Khashoggi’s death, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a staunch Trump ally and noted supporter of closer US-Saudi relations, said he felt “completely betrayed” by Riyadh.

The brutality and brazenness of Khashoggi’s killing seems to have changed many senators’ calculations about the value of the US-Saudi alliance. And pulling US support for the Saudi war in Yemen — a war personally directed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known as MBS — is a powerful way to communicate their displeasure.

It didn’t help that a briefing by two administration officials last week, meant to quell concerns about Saudi Arabia, failed to change lawmakers’ minds. “It was a complete waste of time,” Graham said after the meeting.

That means it’s possible the Senate will once again push back against Trump and Saudi Arabia in one fell swoop this week — via the Yemen bill. What’s unclear, though, is if enough lawmakers would overturn a certain Trump veto.

If they don’t, then the US will for the foreseeable future remain party to a brutal war that’s fueling a huge humanitarian crisis.