WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today voted to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the bipartisan joint war powers resolution to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. In March, the resolution passed the Senate by a vote of 54-46, and on April 4, it passed the House by a vote of 247-175, but today it did not garner enough votes in the Senate to override the President’s veto.
“Not only was this war never authorized as required by the constitution – it is a humanitarian disaster with an estimated 85,000 children having already died of malnutrition,” Durbin said. “Unfortunately, because of President Trump’s veto, the U.S. will continue to spend taxpayer dollars and put American lives on the line in support of this Saudi-led disaster in Yemen.”
The bipartisan joint resolution would halt U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Resolution and Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. In March 2018, Durbin supported a similar bipartisan joint war powers resolution to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Yemen, which was the first-ever vote in the Senate to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from an unauthorized war. In November 2018, the Senate voted and Durbin supported again this bipartisan joint war powers resolution following the Saudi government’s murder of U.S. resident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Durbin has a long history of defending Congress’s constitutional role in matters of war, regardless of who was in the White House.
