House OKs U.S. exit from Yemen

Lawmakers vote 248-177 in rebuke of Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON – The House easily approved a measure Wednesday that would force the Trump administration to end its military support for the Saudiled war in Yemen.

The vote was a sharp rebuke to Saudi Arabia for its conduct in that conflict and a push-back against the Trump administration’s close ties to the kingdom.

The 248-to-177 vote also served as a stinging condemnation for the Saudi government’s role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and highlighted the growing appetite in Congress for reasserting itself on foreign policy.

“It’s historic,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who authored the measure, which invokes Congress’ authority under the 1973 War Powers Act. He noted that Congress has never before approved a resolution using that Vietnam-era law, which was designed to limit the president’s power to start or escalate military engagement.

“It shows the gravity of what’s going on in Yemen – that the first time we’re doing this is against Saudi’s brutal bombing campaign in one of the world’s greatest humanitarian catastrophes,” Khanna said.

Republican opponents of the Yemen resolution said it would give Iran a green light to spread its influence in Yemen and set a dangerous precedent by stretching the War Powers’ definition of military engagement.

GOP lawmakers noted that the Trump administration already halted its refueling of Saudi jets last fall. They argued that the U.S. role now – which involves providing logistical, intelligence and targeting assistance – did not amount to using American military force.

“U.S. armed forces are not engaged in hostilities” in Yemen, said Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He said the measure is aimed at removing troops “that simply are not there.”

McCaul and others also argued that ending American targeting assistance to the Saudis would only worsen civilian casualties.

“It does not address the humanitarian catastrophe inside Yemen and completely ignores the destabilizing role that Iran is playing” in the region, McCaul said.

The war in Yemen is a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as the two regimes battle for influence in the region. The Saudis, along with the United Arab Emirates, are engaged in a brutal conflict against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The war has exacted a horrific toll on the Yemeni people, with more than 50,000 civilians killed and millions on the brink of starvation.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said there have been 18,000 airstrikes, with one-third of them hitting non-military targets.

“Starving children, millions displaced, outbreaks of deadly disease,” Engel said during Wednesday’s House floor debate. He agreed with GOP opponents that countering Iran’s influence in Yemen was important, but said it did not merit supporting a “reckless” SaudiUAE bombing campaign.

“We cannot just give the coalition a blank check when so many lives are being lost,” Engel argued.

Although most House Republicans voted against the measure, the GOP successfully amended it to include language stating that it is in America’s national security interest to combat antiSemitism around the world. The GOP provision comes on the heels of a tweet posted by Rep. Ilhan Omar that many denounced as anti-Semitic.

The resolution will now go the Senate, which passed a similar measure in the last Congress and where proponents are confident of success again. Khashoggi’s murder, at the hands of a team of Saudi operatives, has infuriated lawmakers and helped galvanize opposition to the U.S. role in Yemen.

“Khashoggi’s murder opened up the world’s eyes to the barbarity of the regime,” Khanna said.

The California lawmaker conceded that Trump could, and probably will, veto the measure. But he noted that if it does pass both chambers, it would still send a strong signal to Saudi Arabia and to the Trump administration since it would be the first time Congress has successfully invoked lawmakers’ war powers to challenge U.S. military involvement abroad.

Wednesday’s action “fundamentally resets the power relations between Congress and the executive branch when it comes to matters of war and peace,” Khanna said.

And even if Trump ignores the resolution, he said, “the Saudis will know their relationship with the United States is on much shakier ground and that they’re going to have to make concessions.”

A United Nations envoy is currently trying to negotiate an end to the conflict, and proponents of the Yemen resolution argued Wednesday’s vote would give momentum to that process.

“Starving children, millions displaced, outbreaks of deadly disease ... We cannot just give the coalition a blank check when so many lives are being lost.”

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

Tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels hold up their weapons in Sanaa, Yemen, as they attend a gathering to show their support for the peace talks being held in Sweden. HANI MOHAMMED/AP