Congress stares down Trump on Yemen war
After five votes, Congress has finally passed a bill ending US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, but it faces a likely veto from President Donald Trump.
The House voted today to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, finally sending the resolution to President Donald Trump’s desk after five votes since March 2018.
Today’s 247-175 vote marks the first time Congress has successfully used the 1973 War Powers Act in a bid to curtail a foreign military intervention. But Trump has threatened to veto the bill, which has not garnered enough support in either chamber to override him.
“This is the first time in the history of this nation that a War Powers Resolution has passed the House and Senate and made it to the president’s desk,” the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said in a statement. “Despite the many procedural roadblocks deployed in both chambers to block this resolution, commitment to human rights and responsibility prevailed.”
The resolution enjoyed bipartisan support when it passed the Republican-led Senate 54-46 last month. But today’s House vote was mostly along party lines, with just 16 Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues to pass the bill.
