The Senate on Wednesday passed a nonbinding resolution calling for an end to U.S. support for Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, which drew support from both Republicans and Democrats.
It’s the second time in just a few months the Senate has voted on the resolution. The Senate passed a similar resolution in December but it expired at the end of the 115th Congress.
This time, the new Democratic majority in the House is poised to back the Senate-passed bill and send it to the president, although Trump is guaranteed to veto it.
Several Republicans joined Democrats to pass the measure. Lawmakers in both parties have grown increasingly opposed to the United States’ involvement in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia’s ongoing civil war against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels has created a humanitarian crisis and killed thousands.
The measure was sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is running for president and believes the U.S. involvement is unauthorized.
The measure was co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and 16 Democrats, including Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
“Eighty-five thousand children have died,” Murphy said before the vote. “The country is in the midst of a cholera epidemic. Today we have a chance to end our support for this nightmare.”
Senators remain angry at the Saudi government over its involvement in the brutal murder of dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was also a columnist at the Washington Post. They are also unsatisfied with the Trump administration’s light rebuke of the Saudis after Khashoggi’s murder, which CIA officials say was likely directed by the king.
Many Republicans voted against the measure and argued it would interfere with the executive branch’s authority to conduct military operations overseas.
