Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday urged Senators to block an imminent vote on a historic war powers resolution that would end U.S. support of the Saudi-led strikes in Yemen.
The Kentucky Republican said a bill sponsored by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., “is neither precise enough or prudent enough,” to protect the 70-year alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The measure, slated to come up Wednesday afternoon, would impose an unprecedented check on the executive branch to use military force abroad.
McConnell urged lawmakers to instead back a forthcoming resolution drafted by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., which would condemn the Saudi government, and specifically Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October.
[Related: Pompeo warns: Abandoning Saudi Arabia strengthens Iran]
“It’s a superior road to the outcome that most senators want,” McConnell said. “So I urge every member to vote against considering the Sanders-Lee resolution today and join me in supporting Chairman Corker’s responsible alternative.”
Republicans and Democrats were angered by President Trump’s decision to consider supporting the crown prince following the CIA investigation, and they have been in talks for weeks about using their own powers to sanction the crown prince and send a message to Trump.
Corker told reporters he believes the Sanders-Lee resolution has the backing both to proceed to debate and pass the floor, but has little future beyond the Senate this year.
Corker is crafting a third measure with Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Todd Young, R-Ind., which would call for sanctions against the Saudis. But that measure isn’t likely to make it out of committee this year.
In the meantime, Corker and McConnell are discouraging lawmakers against the Lee-Sanders bill, arguing the use of the war powers act in this instance would too broadly attack the executive branch’s authority.
“If the Senate wants to pick a constitutional fight with the executive branch over war powers, I would advise my colleagues to pick a better case,” McConnell said Wednesday. “Their resolution is an inappropriate vehicle.”
Lee, Sanders, and the mostly Democratic backing for the bill argue the United Sates should not provide any support for the Saudi-led strikes in Yemen, where 10,000 civilians have been killed and 40,000 have been injured.
The measure gained traction after the Khashoggi killing and, more recently, a briefing in the Senate by CIA Director Gina Haspel linking the crown prince directly to the killing.
