US Senate Advances Yemen Resolution in Rebuke to Donald Trump

Washington: The US Senate has issued a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump, easily advancing a resolution that would end American military support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen’s civil war despite a White House effort to quash the bill. The administration on Wednesday launched an 11th-hour lobbying frenzy to try to head off momentum for the resolution, dispatching Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Capitol Hill in the morning and issuing a veto threat less than an hour before the vote started, The Hill magazine reported. But lawmakers advanced the resolution, 63-37, even as the administration vowed to stand by Saudi Arabia following the outcry over the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“There’s been a lot of rhetoric that’s come from the White House and from the State Department on this issue,” said Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “The rhetoric that I’ve heard and the broadcasts that we’ve made around the world as to who we are have been way out of balance as it relates to American interests and American values.” The vote advances the resolution out of the Foreign Relations Committee, making it available for action before the full Senate. The small step is a significant victory for supporters of the resolution, which fell six votes short of passage in March. Senators were increasingly frustrated with Saudi Arabia amid growing questions about Khashoggi’s death and whether Riyadh was actively trying to limit civilian deaths in Yemen. (IANS)