“Congress abdicated its constitutional powers and failed to prevent our country from involving itself in this crisis,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a lead co-sponsor with Sen. Patrick Leahy.
As U.S. President Joe Biden visits the Middle East this week, three senators introduced a joint resolution to end the United States’ involvement in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
The resolution is sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—and, according to the trio, it is already backed by a bipartisan group of over 100 House members.
“We must put an end to the unauthorized and unconstitutional involvement of U.S. armed forces in the catastrophic Saudi-led war in Yemen and Congress must take back its authority over war,” Sanders said in a statement, detailing the dire conditions in the region.
“More than 85,000 children in Yemen have already starved and millions more are facing imminent famine and death,” he pointed out. “More than 70% of Yemen’s population currently rely on humanitarian food assistance and the U.N. has warned the death toll could climb to 1.3 million people by 2030.”
“This war has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis today and it is past time to end U.S. complicity in those horrors,” Sanders declared. “Let us pass this resolution, so we can focus on diplomacy to end this war.”
While a cease-fire in Yemen has held over the past few months, peace advocates and progressive lawmakers have continued to call for an end to U.S. support for the yearslong war.
“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?”