The Senate approved a resolution Thursday to end U. S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, dealing a significant blow to President Trump amid heightened\u2026<\/b>
\nThe Senate approved a resolution Thursday to end U. S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, dealing a significant blow to President Trump amid heightened tensions over the death of U. S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Senators voted 56-41 on the resolution, which would require the president to withdraw any troops in or \u201caffecting\u201d Yemen within 30 days unless they are fighting al Qaeda.
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The resolution would still need to be passed by the House before it could be sent to Trump, who has threatened to veto it. The House on Wednesday narrowly approved a rule governing debate on the farm bill that included a provision that would prevent lawmakers from forcing a war powers vote this year.
Still, the Senate vote Thursday underscores the depth of frustration with Saudi Arabia on Capitol Hill, as well as the escalating gap between the White House and Congress on the relationship between the U. S. and the kingdom.
\u201cI hope\u2026 we send a loud and powerful message by passing this resolution. That we\u2019re going to bring peace to that country and that the United States Congress is going to reassert its constitutional authority to make the body that makes war not the president,\u201d Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of the sponsors of the resolution, told reporters.
It\u2019s a dramatic U-turn from less than nine months ago when the chamber pigeonholed the exact same resolution, refusing to vote it out of committee and onto full Senate. At the time, 10 Democrats joined 45 Republicans in opposing it.
The resolution’s passage comes less than a day after Trump maintained that he would stand by the Saudi government and specifically Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom U. S. intelligence officials reportedly believe ordered Khashoggi’s killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in early October.
A growing number of senators also believe the crown prince is responsible for the death of Khashoggi, who was a vocal critic of Saudi leadership and lived in Virginia while serving as a columnist for The Washington Post.
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Trump told Reuters on Tuesday that Riyadh has been \u201ca very good ally\u201d and \u201cat this moment\u201d sticking with Saudi Arabia means standing by the crown prince.
The Trump administration had led a lobbying effort to try to squash the Senate resolution. In addition to a veto threat, they sent Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to brief senators and privately urge them to oppose the resolution. The House is expected to get the same briefing on Thursday.
And CIA Director Gina Haspel has met with a group of Senate and House lawmakers, but she only appeared to solidify the belief among senators that the crown prince is responsible. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S. C.) told reporters after the briefing that \u201cthere’s not a smoking gun, there’s a smoking saw\u201d tying the crown prince to the death \u2014 a direct rebuke to Mattis\u2019s claim that there isn\u2019t a \u201csmoking gun\u201d linking the crown prince.
Backers of the Yemen resolution did lose some GOP support since the initial procedural vote late last month. Some Republicans, like Graham, say they voted initially to advance the resolution because of the message it sent to Saudi Arabia and not because of the substance of the resolution.
Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday that he couldn\u2019t support the resolution but \u201cI know that Lee-Sanders has the votes.\u201d
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged opposition to the measure hours ahead of the vote, while acknowledging members have \u00ab\u00a0legitimate concerns\u00a0\u00bb about Yemen and share \u00ab\u00a0grave concerns\u00a0\u00bb about Khashoggi’s death.
\u00ab\u00a0[But] we also want to preserve the 70-year partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia and we want to ensure it continues to serve American interests and stabilizes a dangerous and critical region,\u00a0\u00bb McConnell said.
He added that the dynamic presents \u00ab\u00a0challenging circumstances\u00a0\u00bb but \u00ab\u00a0the Sanders-Lee resolution is neither precise enough or prudent enough.\u201d
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee who also opposes the resolution, wrote in a Fox News op-ed Wednesday that while \u201cthe Saudis must answer for Khashoggi\u2019s murder\u201d the Sanders-Lee resolution \u201crisks emboldening Iran and increasing the suffering of the Yemeni people.\u201d
Republicans instead are working on a resolution that, according to Corker, would hold the crown prince \u201cresponsible for the killing.\u201d McConnell, who is cosponsoring the resolution, publicly urged senators to support that resolution instead.
Corker has been negotiating for days with Senate leadership on the resolution, in the hopes that it could get a Senate vote as soon as this week. An overwhelming vote, he hopes, would pressure House leadership to quickly pass it before the end of the year.
\u201cA strong denouncing of a crown prince and holding them responsible for the murder of a journalist. It\u2019s a pretty strong statement for the United States Senate to be making, assuming we can get a vote on it,\u201d Corker told reporters this week.<\/p>\n