WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), both members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Thursday made the following statement after Saudi Arabia transferred $500 million to United Nations for humanitarian programs for Yemen:

“This is very welcome news. Saudi Arabia’s $500 million contribution to the UN’s programs in Yemen will save thousands of lives. However, the world’s largest humanitarian crisis will continue to get worse unless Yemeni leaders and external powers agree to end hostilities and work towards a political agreement to stabilize Yemen. Only the United States has the leverage to bring all parties to the table, and we have a responsibility to get this done now,” said Murphy.

“During my recent trip to Saudi Arabia, I met with Saudi leaders and received assurances they would soon provide the financial aid they had committed to help end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” said Young. “I’m pleased Saudi Arabia is fulfilling that commitment with their official transfer of $500 million to the UN, and I thank them for doing so. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure this assistance is properly administered to help end the suffering of the Yemeni people.”

This month, Murphy and Young led a group of 8 bipartisan senators in calling on Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to fulfil the Kingdom’s full commitment of $750 million to the United Nations to help fund critical programs aimed at alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. In June after the administration announced their arms sale to Saudi Arabia, Murphy and U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) introduced a privileged resolution to begin the process of forcing a vote on arms sales and other security assistance to Saudi Arabia. Murphy and Young’s resolution draws upon Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act which allows Congress to vote to request information on a particular country’s human rights practices within 30 days.

 

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