Intel: Democrats warn Trump administration against cutting Yemen aid

A group of seven prominent House Democrats warned the Donald Trump administration against cutting aid to war-torn Yemen despite new Houthi restrictions on international assistance.

The chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees and Middle East subcommittee, Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Ted Deutch, D-Fla., penned a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and outgoing USAID Administrator Mark Green warning them against cutting humanitarian assistance for Yemen as the Houthis impose new restrictions inhibiting aid delivery.

“These restrictions are unacceptable, but all political and diplomatic channels to resolve these issues must be exhausted before contemplating a large-scale, unilateral suspension of US assistance, which risks catastrophic humanitarian impacts,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “The recent agreement by the Houthi aid coordination agency to withdraw some of its unacceptable demands demonstrates that donors and humanitarian organizations are making progress through negotiation and diplomatic pressure.”

Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., also signed onto the letter.