WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on Tuesday after President Trump vetoed the resolution authored 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. Previously, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives passed the resolution with broad bipartisan support. 

“This is a huge mistake. The civil war in Yemen is a humanitarian crisis, and we have no business still being a part of it. Republicans and Democrats in Congress voted overwhelmingly to get out and send a strong message to the Saudi government that they can no longer take our alliance for granted,”said Murphy. “I’ve been calling on the United States to get out of the civil war in Yemen for the last four years, and this veto won’t stop me. I’ll keep working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on next steps, including increased sanctions and arms sales restrictions, to limit our involvement in the Saudi coalition and put pressure on the peace process.” 

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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