June 3, 2022 10:40 a.m.

Congressman Peter DeFazio is part of a group of lawmakers that introduced House legislation to assert Congress’s constitutional war powers and end what they call “unauthorized United States military involvement in Saudi Arabia’s brutal war in Yemen”.

A companion version will be introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders in the Senate when that chamber reconvenes.

A release said since 2012, the U.S. has been involved in supporting the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen, without ever receiving authorization from Congress. DeFazio’s group says for over seven years, the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes and air-and-sea blockade have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and threatened millions more with famine. DeFazio said in recent months, Saudi airstrikes escalated, killing and injuring four times more civilians than in 2021. The release said according to the United Nations, this conflict has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

DeFazio said, “Article 1 of the Constitution is clear: Congress, not the Executive branch, has the sole authority to declare war and authorize involvement of U.S. forces in overseas conflicts, including inserting U.S. troops as advisors in aid of foreign-led hostilities”. DeFazio said, “It’s critical that the Biden Administration take the steps necessary to fulfill their promise to end U.S. support of the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen. We should not be involved in yet another conflict in the Middle East – especially a brutal war that has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and contributed to the deaths of at least 377,000 civilians”.

The release said over 100 national organizations have endorsed this resolution including the American Friends Service Committee, the National Council of Churches, and the Center of Economic Policy and Research.