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Floor Speech
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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, this is an issue that I and a number of us Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, have been working on for a number of years.
I was disappointed that the Biden administration has announced its opposition to the resolution I am bringing forth, but we have been in communication with the administration all day, and just a few minutes ago, we have received a commitment from them that they will work with us to end the war in Yemen and bring peace to that very troubled region.
I don't know if the administration and those of us who want to go forward will end up being in agreement. If not, I assure the Members that we will be back with a resolution in the very near future, as soon as we can, because this is an issue that I and many of us feel passionately about.
To the Members, I am not going to ask for a vote tonight, but I do want to express my concerns, deep concerns, about what is going on in that region.
In 2014, with the active support of the U.S. military, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and a coalition of other countries intervened in the civil war in Yemen. The result of that intervention was the creation of the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet, and it really is almost hard to imagine what is going on in that impoverished country.
Since the war began in 2015, over 377,000 people have been killed, including at least 130,000 people who have died from indirect causes like food insecurity and lack of healthcare as a direct result of the Saudi blockade of Yemen and the humanitarian obstruction by warring parties.
Today, nearly 25 million Yemenis are in need of humanitarian assistance, 5 million are at risk of famine, and over a million are affected by cholera. According to UNICEF, by the end of this calendar year, nearly 18 million people, including over 9 million children, will lack access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services in Yemen, leading to regular outbreaks of preventable diseases like cholera, measles, and diphtheria.
The 8-year war in Yemen has internally displaced over 4 million people, making Yemen home to one of the largest internal displacement crises in the world, with women and children bearing the brunt of that burden.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, nearly 77 percent-- or 3 million--of those displaced in Yemen are women and children. Every 2 hours, a Yemeni woman dies during childbirth, an almost entirely preventable crisis. Furthermore, in Yemen today, more than a million pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished, a number we may see double with rising food insecurity.
According to the international relief organization Oxfam, the threat of famine is very serious. Despite ongoing humanitarian assistance, over 17 million people in Yemen remain food insecure, a number set to rise to 19 million by the end of this year. In Yemen today, over a million pregnant or breastfeeding women and over 2 million children under 5 require treatment for acute malnutrition--acute malnutrition.
And if you think the suffering in that country cannot get any worse, unfortunately, you would be dead wrong. The United Nations reports that, if the conflict doesn't stop, the war in Yemen could lead to the deaths of 1.3 million people by the year 2030.
And let us be crystal clear: The initiators of this terrible war in Yemen were Saudi Arabia, one of the very most dangerous countries on the face of this Earth. Saudi Arabia is a dictatorship that is doing everything that it can to crush democracy in its own country. It is a brutal regime that treats women as third-class citizens and tortures civilians. It is one of the worst human rights violators in the world.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, as I think many of us are familiar with, Muhammad bin Salman, ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and American resident, with a bone saw in 2018. And there is little doubt about that.
In a blatant attempt to jack up gas prices in the United States and harm our economy, Saudi Arabia agreed to partner with Vladimir Putin in the murderous war against the people of Ukraine.
At a time when children in Yemen are facing mass starvation, when that impoverished country's healthcare system is collapsing, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman bought himself a $500 million yacht, a $300 million French chateau, and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting. And he can afford to do this because their family is worth some $1.4 trillion, one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, families in the entire world.
According to Freedom House, a respected human rights organization:
Saudi Arabia's absolute monarchy restricts almost all political rights and civil liberties. No officials at the national level are elected. The regime relies on pervasive surveillance, the criminalization of dissent, appeals to sectarianism and ethnicity, and public spending supported by oil revenues to maintain power. Women and religious minorities face extensive discrimination in law and in practice.
According to Human Rights Watch, under the government headed by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, ``Saudi Arabia has experienced the worst period of repression in its modern history.'' Human Rights Watch has reported that ``accounts have emerged of alleged torture of high- profile political detainees in Saudi prisons,'' including Saudi women's rights activists and others. The alleged torture included electric shocks, beatings, whippings, and sexual harassment.
Enough is enough. We must fundamentally reassess our relationship with the murderous regime of Saudi Arabia. We can and we must begin to do that by ending our support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, and that is why I have introduced a resolution that requires the United States to withdraw its forces from and involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has not been authorized by the U.S. Congress.
This obviously is not a radical idea. In 2019, the Senate passed a similar resolution by a vote of 54 to 46. Every Democrat who was present voted for it, along with seven Republicans. The House of Representatives passed that same resolution by a vote of 247 to 175. Every Democrat in the House who was present voted for it, along with 16 Republicans. Sadly, then-President Trump vetoed it, and it did not become law.
It is long past time that we take a very hard look at our relationship with Saudi Arabia, a country whose government represents the very opposite of what we profess to believe in. Last year, President Biden and his administration did the right thing when it announced it would end U.S. support for offensive military operations led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen and named a special envoy to help bring this conflict to an end.
The good news is that, as a result of these efforts--I think as a result of the resolution passed in the House and the Senate--the Saudis have paused their deadly airstrikes in Yemen, and, in April, the United Nations brokered a truce between the warring factions.
The bad news is that this truce expired over 2 months ago, and there is now evidence that violence in Yemen is beginning to escalate.
Now, I understand that the administration is opposed to this resolution, and let me briefly respond to some of their concerns. First, the administration claims that this resolution is unnecessary because Saudi Arabia has paused its bombing campaign in Yemen. Well, Mr. President, that may be true, but--let's be clear--there is no guarantee that Saudi Arabia will not start bombing Yemen tomorrow, relying on U.S. military support and U.S.-manufactured weapons to carry out those airstrikes, which in the past have done incalculable harm to the people of Yemen. In fact, a previously announced end to U.S. offensive support did not prevent devastating and indiscriminate Saudi airstrikes in Yemen, which occurred as late as March 2022.
Passing this legislation would allow Congress to play a constructive role in the negotiation of an extension of the truce and a long-term and lasting peace. The resolution that we are debating today--we are discussing right now--will help ensure that Saudi airstrikes do not resume.
Further, while it is true that the Saudi blockade is not as severe as it has been in the past, vital commodities like fuel and medicine are still in short supply; and Saudi Arabia, to this day, still has imposed restrictions on nearly all commercial imports into Yemen, including fuel. And Saudi Arabia still has control over Yemeni airspace, which has prevented thousands of patients with medical emergencies from leaving the capital of Sana'a, according to the Quincy Institute.
This legislation that I have brought forward simply codifies what President Biden has already pledged to do by ending U.S. military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen. Specifically, this resolution would achieve three important goals:
First, it would end U.S. intelligence sharing for the purpose of enabling offensive, Saudi-led coalition strikes inside Yemen.
Second, it would end U.S. logistical support for offensive, Saudi-led coalition strikes, including the provision of maintenance and spare parts to coalition members flying warplanes.
Finally, it would prohibit U.S. military personnel from being assigned to command, coordinate, participate in the movement of or accompany Saudi-led coalition forces engaged in hostilities without specific statutory authorization from the Congress.
Let us be clear. This is a narrowly targeted resolution that only affects Saudi Arabia's offensive operations in Yemen. This resolution would still allow for U.S. military support to be used to protect the territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia. In other words, nothing in this legislation prevents the United States from helping Saudi Arabia defend itself against attacks originating from Yemen. Further, this resolution would not affect America's support for Ukraine's self-defense, as some opponents of this legislation have claimed.
That is why I am proud to be joined on this resolution by some of the staunchest defenders of Ukrainian sovereignty and U.S. national security interests, who, like me, are outraged by Saudi Arabia's collaboration with Russia and open support of illegal wars of aggression. They include Senator Durbin, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Peters, Senator Warren, Senator Markey, and a number of others who support this resolution.
Passing this War Powers Resolution will send a very powerful message to Saudi Arabia that the war in Yemen must finally come to an end. There must be a peaceful resolution to this horrific conflict. Passing this resolution will also send a message to Saudi Arabia that its partnership with Russia, with respect to the war in Ukraine, is unacceptable.
In October, after Saudi Arabia agreed to cut oil production, the Biden administration recognized the need to work with Congress to reexamine the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States. President Biden said he wanted action from Congress. This resolution is a narrowly tailored response that will help achieve that objective.
In October, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Menendez, said:
The United States must immediately freeze all aspects of our cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including any arms sales and security cooperation beyond what is absolutely necessary to defend U.S. personnel and interests.
He continued:
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine. Enough is enough.
I agree with that, and this resolution is our opportunity to send a powerful message to Saudi Arabia that Congress is, in fact, reexamining our relationship with that country; it is an attempt to defend the Constitution of the United States, which gives the power of making war to Congress, not to the President; and it is an effort to end our complicity in this horrendously bloody and horrible conflict.
Congress has a narrow window now to do something important. Enacting the War Powers Resolution will send a powerful message to the Saudis and to the Houthis that the United States will not be a party to this war and that the warring factions must find a sustainable peace solution.
The vote on this resolution is very important. And let me repeat: We, just a few minutes before I got to the floor, received word from the administration that they wanted to work with us in crafting language that would be mutually acceptable, and we are going to give them that opportunity. Whether we succeed or not, I don't know. And let me repeat: If we do not succeed, I will be back with many of my colleagues to bring forth this resolution, something that is very important.
What this resolution, finally, is about is that it says that the people of Yemen need more humanitarian assistance, not more bombs. It is a vote that says that the Senate believes in the Constitution of our country, which makes it clear that the Congress, not the President, determines whether and when the United States goes to war. It is a vote that tells Saudi Arabia that we will not continue to give it a blank check with respect to war and foreign intervention. And it is a vote that says: No, we will not stand with Saudi Arabia while it is actively supporting Vladimir Putin's horrific war of aggression against the people of Ukraine.
So, once again, where we are at is, I am not going to ask for a vote tonight. I look forward to working with the administration, which was opposed to this resolution, to see if we can come up with something that is strong, that is effective. And if we do not, I will be back.
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