President Donald Trump is expected to veto a resolution marking an incredibly rare instance of the US House and Senate coming together in a bipartisan manner to oppose an unconstitutional, illegal intervention overseas.
The House voted on Thursday to halt any US involvement in the Yemen War, where US weapons and intelligence have been used to commit what independent human rights observers are calling a genocide. The measure was approved by a 247-175 vote on April 4. The Senate had previously approved the measure by a 54-46 vote on March 13.
Members of both the Republican and Democratic parties have spoken out in favor of stopping the US-backed war in Yemen, which is happening largely at the behest of Saudi Arabia.
“The president will have to face the reality that Congress is no longer going to ignore its constitutional obligations when it comes to foreign policy,” Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) said, who serves as House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman.
“With passage of this resolution, we have reasserted Congress’ constitutional role over declaring war and over putting American blood and treasure on the line. It is long past time that we end U.S. involvement in this unauthorized, unjustified and immoral war that has caused immense human suffering,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said after the measure passed the Senate.
On the other hand, it was Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) leading the charge of the RINOs for opposing this Constitutional resolution to prevent illegal war.
“I voted against this resolution because I am concerned it would set a precedent that would negatively impact our security partnerships around the world that rely on similar U.S. support,” Romney said in a statement. “By remaining engaged, the U.S. retains influence over the coalition’s actions in Yemen and can continue to press for an end to the conflict.”
Unfortunately, it is looking like President Donald Trump is going to stand with establishment politicians like Romney and the Saudi swamp to veto the resolution preventing US support for Saudi Arabia’s brutal war in Yemen.
Trump has been very careful not to offend the Saudis, which caused anger following their alleged murder of Jeff Bezos’ Muslim Brotherhood propagandist, Jamal Khashoggi.
Trump essentially absolved the Saudi Arabia from having any culpability in the butchering of Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey last October.
Trump said in an official White House statement: “King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
Trump has frequently repeated Saudi war propaganda pertaining to Yemen as well. The President believes that “Saudi Arabia would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave” and blames Iran for death and destruction being caused directly by the US and the Saudis in Yemen. His administration has claimed that the Saudis are working to reduce civilian casualties in Yemen without offering any evidence backing up their assertion.
This would be just the second veto of Trump’s presidency, the first having come after Congress attempted to rebuke him on his emergency declaration at the US southern border. Unless the votes can be whipped in Congress to produce a veto override, US support of the Yemen war is not likely to come to an end any time soon.
