WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) – a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee – released a statement on Tuesday after the Senate voted to table a bipartisan joint resolution Murphy introduced with U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.
“Every day that America keeps helping Saudi Arabia bomb Yemen, we are less safe as a nation. Thousands upon thousands of innocent people are dead because our government has facilitated a devastating bombing campaign. This conflict has killed over 10,000 civilians and created the worst outbreak of cholera in the world. One of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters – death, disease, starvation – is happening with our active participation. And no one has been able to explain how our actions there made the people in my state even just a little safer,” said Murphy. “Today’s vote, and the process of oversight that Chairman Corker has committed to on the Foreign Relations Committee, is a signal that the U.S. Senate is not going to stand idly by and let this fatal foreign policy mistake continue unabated.”
Murphy has been a vocal critic of U.S. support for military campaigns in Yemen that have led to devastating humanitarian consequences and a security vacuum that has empowered terrorist groups. Earlier today, Murphy demanded that Congress pass the resolution and withdraw from military campaigns in Yemen. Ahead of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohamed bin Salman’s visit to the White House on Tuesday, Murphy wrote to President Trump asking him to urge the Crown Prince to end the Saudi-led war in Yemen and address other critical human rights issues.