Durbin: Congress Must Halt Unauthorized U.S. Military Involvement in Yemen

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on the Senate to once again pass a bipartisan joint war powers resolution to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Yemen. The Senate is expected to vote on the matter this afternoon. In February, the Democratic-led House of Representatives passed a joint war powers resolution to end U.S. involvement in Yemen by a vote of 248-177. The White House has issued a veto threat ahead of today’s Senate vote.

“Our Founding Fathers knew that sending someone’s son or daughter into war was not to be made by a King or a supreme executive, but by the people – the people of the United States. So our constitution wisely rests that responsibility with us – Senators, members of the House of Representatives,” Durbin said in a speech on the Senate floor. “Today, there will be a record vote, a historic vote as to whether we go forward with this involvement in the war in Yemen. I will be voting against anymore involvement by the United States in this war.”

The joint resolution would halt U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Resolution. In March 2018, Durbin supported a similar bipartisan joint war powers resolution to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Yemen, which was the first-ever vote in the Senate to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from an unauthorized war. In November 2018, the Senate voted and Durbin supported again this bipartisan joint war powers resolution following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Durbin has a long history of defending Congress’s constitutional role in matters of war, regardless of who was in the White House.

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