WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism, on Wednesday chaired a subcommittee hearing on U.S. policy in Yemen with U.S. Department of State Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking, United States Institute of Peace President and Chief Executive Officer Lise Grande, and International Rescue Committee’s Senior Director for International Programs, Policy and Advocacy Amanda Catanzano. Murphy focused on the next steps to reach a nationwide ceasefire in Yemen, removing obstacles to and providing funding for humanitarian aid, getting Yemen’s economy back up and running, and looking ahead to a framework for inclusive political negotiations to end the war.

“Just two weeks after he took office, President Biden said this, ‘This war has to end.’ He called the war in Yemen what it is: a ‘humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.’ Those words from an American President are long overdue. It’s a recognition that the United States has aided and abetted a war for years that has caused untold suffering for millions of Yemenis and has undermined U.S. national security interests,” Murphy said as he praised the Biden administration for their swift action to end the war in Yemen.

On reports that the Biden administration may be moving forward with arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Murphy said: “I am concerned by recent reports that the administration may be moving forward with portions of these sales. I would urge that any determination of offensive arms sales to these two troubled partners take into consideration some key factors including the recipients’ past record and whether the arms or services in question were previously misused or could potentially be used offensively in the future, especially against civilians or civilian infrastructure. Frankly, the track records of these two countries in that respect are not good.”

Murphy continued: “Recent reporting suggests that the administration intends to move forward with the sale of Reaper drones to the UAE. The Emiratis already have a record of illegally transferring weapons to Salafist militias in Yemen, and Congress, frankly, has not received sufficient assurances that such transfers will not happen again.”

Finally, on the humanitarian situation in Yemen, Murphy said: “[W]e need 1) for donors to step up and provide the funding that’s needed to fulfill this year’s UN appeal, which is, right now, dangerously underfunded [and] 2) we need to resolve the blockade that is restricting fuel deliveries to Hodeidah. While a handful of vessels have been allowed to berth there, those supplies are only a band-aid, they only will last a few more weeks. Fuel is a lifeline in Yemen, it’s critical to power hospitals, ensure the provision of food and access to water, and generally help alleviate the?suffering of the Yemeni people. There is just no excuse to deny these lifesaving fuel imports any longer. And the Saudis—they need to lift this blockade, and the Yemeni government needs to issue the permits to let the goods get through.”

Murphy has been one of the strongest voices in Washington on the need to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen dating as far back as early 2015. Earlier this year, Murphy applauded the Biden’s administration’s announcement to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen. Murphy also proposed a new path for U.S. Gulf policy under President Biden in a Foreign Affairs op-ed and made a similar case before the Council on Foreign Relations that U.S. policy in the Gulf no longer aligns with our interests, and detailed how President Biden can reset U.S. relationships in the region in a way that promotes American values, keeps the United States out of foreign entanglements, and prioritizes peace and stability across the region.

A full transcript of Murphy’s opening remarks can be found below:

“I am pleased to bring the subcommittee together today for our first meeting of the year. Our first hearing today is going to be on a critical topic: U.S. policy on Yemen.

“I and the Ranking Member will make some opening remarks and then we’re eager to begin discussion.

“Just two weeks after he took office, President Biden said this, ‘This war has to end.’ He called the war in Yemen what it is: a ‘humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.’

“Those words from an American president are long overdue. It’s a recognition that the United States has aided and abetted a war for years that has caused untold suffering for millions of Yemenis and has undermined U.S. national security interests.

“I first sounded the alarm on this crisis back in 2015. At the time, very few people in the United States Senate knew anything about the Yemen civil war, but today I am hopeful that our participation in this national security cataclysm is coming to an end. 

“President Biden has announced an end to all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales; he has reversed the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization, which threatened to cut off humanitarian aid to millions; he has resumed aid that was suspended by the previous administration to northern Yemen; and he has of course appointed Tim Lenderking as the Special Envoy—we’re honored to have him here today. He is leading U.S. diplomacy efforts to end this war.

“Mr. Lenderking is off to a fast start, and he will talk to us about that today. But America needs to supplement its diplomatic effort by properly using its leverage with the parties to the conflict. 

“It was the right move to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia and to conduct a review of sales to the UAE two months ago.

“Today, I will be honest, I am concerned by recent reports that the administration may be moving forward with portions of these sales. I would urge that any determination of offensive arms sales to these two troubled partners take into consideration some key factors including the recipients’ past record and whether the arms or services in question were previously misused or could potentially be used offensively in the future, especially against civilians or civilian infrastructure. Frankly, the track records of these two countries in that respect are not good.

“Recent reporting suggests that the administration intends to move forward with the sale of Reaper drones to the UAE. The Emiratis already have a record of illegally transferring weapons to Salafist militias in Yemen, and Congress, frankly, has not received sufficient assurances that such transfers will not happen again.

“It’s true that UAE has, for today, suspended its military operations in Yemen, but things change fast in the Middle East. And, let’s be honest, we cannot know with certainty what nations in the Middle East are going to do with the weapons that we’ve sold them. That’s why we’ve never sold F-35s or weaponized drones to anyone except for Israel in the region before.

“But make no mistake, my call for more pressure on Saudi Arabia or UAE to bring this war to an end doesn't ignore the malign Houthi behavior in Yemen. They are guilty of war crimes in this conflict. They recruit child soldiers, they deliberately hold up aid and don't allow it to get to the citizens that are under areas of their control. Senator Young and I have called on the Houthis to urgently stop their offensive in Marib and avoid the needless death and destruction that would come from a protracted battle there. The Houthis need to come to the table just like the Yemeni government and the Saudis.

“But, if we can get the warring parties in Yemen to agree to a peace deal, with their Saudi and Iranian backers supporting such an agreement, it could provide the grass shoots for a new regional security architecture in the Gulf. The past few years have seen nothing but escalation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it’s my view that all of us would be better served by a detente between these two rather than a continuing, endless escalating cycle of violence by proxy, and Yemen provides us with a test case for that theory.

“Finally, a word on the humanitarian crisis. The situation is still nightmarish, as the Special Envoy knows, for Yemenis.

“So we need 1) for donors to step up and provide the funding that’s needed to fulfill this year’s UN appeal, which is, right now, dangerously underfunded [and] 2) we need to resolve the blockade that is restricting fuel deliveries to Hodeidah. While a handful of vessels have been allowed to berth there, those supplies are only a band-aid, they only will last a few more weeks. Fuel is a lifeline in Yemen, it’s critical to power hospitals, ensure the provision of food and access to water, and generally help alleviate the?suffering of the Yemeni people. There is just no excuse to deny these lifesaving fuel imports any longer. And the Saudis—they need to lift this blockade, and the Yemeni government needs to issue the permits to let the goods get through.

“With that, let me return to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks.”

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