Democrats to challenge

House Democrats to challenge Trump again on Yemen

By ANDREW DESIDERIO and JOHN BRESNAHAN

House Democrats are renewing their push to cut off U.S. involvement in Yemen’s bloody civil war, teeing up a direct challenge to President Donald Trump’s foreign-policy agenda.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told POLITICO on Monday that he planned to reintroduce a War Powers resolution in the coming days, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), indicated that his panel would make the issue a top priority.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, continues to support the Saudi-led coalition, which has been engaged in bombing campaigns in Yemen targeting Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The Senate passed a version of the resolution last month after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and amid reports of a devastating humanitarian crisis. But the House, then under Republican control, blocked a vote on it. With Democrats now in control, it’s more likely the effort could reach Trump’s desk.

“I’m confident with the support of the Democratic leadership that we’re going to get a vote in February in the House on the War Powers resolution, and with Sen. Sanders’ leadership that it’s going to pass the Senate,” Khanna told POLITICO, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “And when it does it will be the first time in the history of our country that a War Powers resolution would have passed both the House and the Senate to stop war. It’s long overdue, and this is going to do an enormous amount to end the suffering in Yemen.”

A spokesman for Sanders said both the Vermont senator and Khanna plan to re-introduce the joint resolution later this week.

The Trump administration has argued that its relationship with Saudi Arabia is too important to U.S. national security for Congress to step in and undermine it. In particular, officials have argued that the U.S.-Saudi partnership is crucial for fighting back against Iranian influence in the region. Democratic and Republican lawmakers say the U.S. has not done enough to punish Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi’s murder, and many have used the Yemen issue as a way to send a message to both the president and to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, whom the CIA reportedly believes ordered Khashoggi’s killing.

“Our military intervention overseas is unauthorized and needs to stop,” Khanna said. “And we need to stop support for the coalition and their bombing of Yemen.”

The War Powers resolution would overwhelmingly pass the House, and proponents are optimistic that it could clear the Senate once again.

“We’re going to use language very similar to what passed the Senate, so there’s little reason to think it wouldn’t [pass],” Khanna added. “I think it’ll be tough for people to reverse themselves, especially … given that there’s been nothing done post-Khashoggi on Saudi Arabia. I think this is one easy way for senators and House members to express the disapproval of what the regime is doing.”

Engel, the Foreign Affairs chairman, said addressing the civil war in Yemen would be “among the first things we do.”

“We’re going to have a hearing, for sure — as our first hearing about Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula and what’s happened,” he said, adding that a markup of the resolution would come after the hearing.

The Senate unanimously adopted a joint resolution last year stating that the Saudi crown prince was responsible for Khashoggi’s murder inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. But House Republicans did not take it up before the new Congress was sworn in, effectively killing it. If the resolution had passed both chambers, it would have required Trump to publicly say whether the crown prince was to blame for Khashoggi’s killing.

The president has resisted congressional efforts to hamstring his close relationship with Riyadh, and he has backed the kingdom’s denials while dismissing the CIA’s conclusion that the crown prince was directly involved in the operation to kill the dissident journalist.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has a keen interest in maintaining the U.S.-Saudi security partnership, said there was “no direct evidence” linking the crown prince to Khashoggi’s murder. But senators who received a classified briefing on the matter said there is no question in their minds that Salman ordered the killing.