The Senate on Thursday voted down a resolution from Sen. Rand Paul aimed at blocking a weapons sale to Bahrain to potentially stymie the Mideast ally from waging war in Yemen.
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee both opposed the move, and the chamber voted 77-21 to block the resolution that was designed to thwart the $300 million sale of Lockheed Martin missiles and launchers.
It was the latest defeat on Capitol Hill for lawmakers who want to limit U.S. support for Bahrain amid growing concern over the conflict in Yemen, which has turned into one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. The Republican majority in the House also blocked a vote on a War Powers Resolution this week that would have ended intelligence and logistical support.
“I think that the war in Yemen is counterproductive. I think that our involvement there is leading to more chaos, I think the Senate has abdicated their duty and their role,” said Paul, R-Ky.
Bahrain is among the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that is locked in a protracted three-year war with Houthi rebels backed by Iran. The State Department announced in September it wanted to sell 110 of the Army Tactical Missiles System, or ATACMS, missiles along with 120 rocket pods that the kingdom could use on the battlefield.
Paul called his resolution “your proxy vote on the war in Yemen.” In a letter Wednesday urging fellow senators to support it, he said Bahrain’s loss of new missiles would be the “beginning of the end” for the conflict.
But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., called the proposal “inappropriate and not a mature step” to punish Bahrain, a key U.S. ally in the region and host to 7,800 American troops that act as a deterrent to Iran.
“For us to block offensive sales to the country of Bahrain, that is housing one of our most important naval bases, over something that has nothing to do with them but has something to do with another country is not a pragmatic nor a sensible step,” said Corker.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the Foreign Relations ranking member, also opposed the move despite his own hold on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
The weapons sales, which can be held up by the Senate, and military support to Yemen have been under increasing political pressure due to the humanitarian crisis including disease and starvation among Yemenis, Saudi strikes on civilians including a school bus over the summer, and the Saudi murder of Virginia resident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
In the House, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., attempted a similar move to undermine the war effort and got 81 cosponsors for a resolution that would have removed the U.S. support. Khanna and his supporters argued President Trump needs the consent from Congress to enter into the conflict.
But the chamber voted 201-187 mostly along party lines to strip the legislation of its privileged status, denying it a fast-track vote and likely pushing any future floor debate into next year when Democrats take the majority.
“While today’s vote did not go our way, we will not stop fighting to end U.S. involvement in the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history. We must end U.S. complicity in Yemen’s humanitarian disaster,” Khanna said following the defeat.
