Senators Defy Trump On Two Key Issues

EghtesadOnline: A slim majority of senators voted Thursday to end US support for a Saudi Arabian military campaign in Yemen that has been blamed for tens of thousands of deaths and mass starvation. The vote provides the biggest rebuke yet of a three-year U.S. policy that the Trump administration says it has no plans to end.

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15 December 2018

The historic 56-41 vote on a resolution from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) represents the first time the Senate has voted to end a U.S. military operation not approved by Congress, news outlets reported.

It’s also a major loss for the Saudis, who are already worried about mounting criticism in Washington over their government’s role in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to Financial Tribune.

“Today is the beginning of a new day in terms of the congress acting on military issues,” Sanders said after the vote, adding that it is important for the public to see that “their elected representatives are about to take back their constitutional responsibility on the issues of war.”

CIA Director Gina Haspel helped stiffen senators’ resolve to admonish the kingdom in a briefing last week in which she offered details of a classified CIA assessment that blames de facto Saudi ruler and crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) for the Khashoggi assassination, undercutting Trump’s claims that the crown prince might not have been involved.

The senate on Thursday also unanimously approved a nonbinding joint resolution authored by US Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that directly blames Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi’s murder and calls for a ceasefire to hostilities in Yemen. It was backed by GOP leadership and other senators who oppose ending US support for the Saudis and their killing machine in war-ravaged Yemen.