Senate votes to debate support for Yemen war

Measure seeks end to U.S. support for the Saudi-led conflict

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Wednesday to formally start debating a measure to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, setting up what is likely to be the first of several bipartisan rebukes of President Donald Trump’s support of Saudi Arabia that senators hope to deliver.

The 60-37 vote exceeded the expectations of the Yemen resolution’s supporters, who had guessed that most of the 14 Republicans who supported the measure through an opening procedural hurdle last month would peel away as it advanced. But 11 Republicans, including incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch, R-Idaho, who is usually seen as a Trump ally, joined all Democrats in voting to start debating the resolution.

Should even part of that coalition hold together, the Senate is set to deliver a historic message to Trump that the status quo on Saudi relations is no longer acceptable.

Lawmakers have launched several efforts to condemn, chastise or curtail traditional U.S. support to Saudi Arabia after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist.

Momentum around several of those efforts — particularly the Yemen resolution from Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Mike Lee, R-Utah — built dramatically after the CIA determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was probably responsible for Khashoggi’s killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, findings Trump has dismissed as he continues to embrace the prince.

Wednesday’s Senate vote came just hours after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed the House about the agency’s assessment that Mohammed probably ordered the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It was the second time in two weeks that she has given lawmakers a closeddoor look at the CIA’s classified examination of Khashoggi’s death.