WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday released the following statement after the U.S. Senate successfully passed a resolution offered by Murphy, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Act. In December, Murphy, Sanders and Lee were successful in passing the resolution. It was the first time since the War Powers Act became law in 1973 that the U.S. Senate successfully passed a resolution pursuant to the law, but the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives prevented a vote from taking place. The resolution will now go to the House, where it is expected to pass. Earlier today, Murphy spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate to urge his colleagues to support this resolution. 

“I started raising the alarm about this issue four years ago, and I was a lonely voice in Washington. When Senator Paul and I first brought up an effort to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, only about a quarter of the Senate voted in favor. We’ve come a long way since then. Senators from both parties have made clear that the Saudis can’t take their alliance with the United States for granted. The Saudi-led war in Yemen has caused 85,000 children to starve to death. 85,000 children. Today we said enough – enough with this disastrous and unconstitutional war, enough with facilitating this humanitarian disaster, enough with giving the Saudis a blank check. I hope the Saudi leadership is paying attention,” said Murphy

Since the beginning of this conflict in 2015, Murphy has been a vocal critic of the United States’ support for the Saudi-led civil war in Yemen, and has called on his colleagues to pass legislation to end U.S. military involvement. The conflict has led to devastating humanitarian consequences and a security vacuum that has empowered terrorist groups, like ISIS and al Qaeda, to grow stronger in the region. Murphy has repeatedly expressed concern that U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia’s military actions against Houthi rebels in Yemen threatens our own national security interests. As a result of U.S. involvement assisting Saudi Arabia, we are potentially radicalizing young Yemenis against America and assisting in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni citizens.

Last year, Murphy renewed his call to cease support for the Saudi-led campaign following a United Nations report that found continued human rights violations. After the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October, Murphy reiterated his call for the suspension of military support for the Saudi-led campaign. He echoed his call in an op-ed in the Washington Post. Murphy, Sanders and Lee reintroduced their resolution in January.

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