Senate Votes to Proceed on Yemen War Resolution

Vote advances war resolution for debate

In a long-anticipated vote, the Senate finally had their motion to proceed on the Yemen War resolution, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introducing the motion at 3:00 on Wednesday. The vote passed 60-39.

This opens the Senate up to debate and ultimately vote on the resolution calling for an end to US involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. This marks the second vote that the Senate has had this month to advance the resolution.

While the vote went largely as expected, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was a surprise defector, voting no on the motion. Corker had opposed previous moves to end the Yemen War, but had backed the idea in recent weeks, citing the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi as his turning point.

Proceeding to the resolution is no guarantee that it will pass the Senate. There are any number of additional obstacles that could be thrown up, and those voting to proceed may not, in fact, vote for the resolution itself.

Even if it passes in the Senate, there likely won’t be any concurrent resolutions in the House until next year, as the House leadership has once again made a last second rule change in an unrelated bill to block any challenges to the Yemen War.

Those wishing to call their senators should do so very soon before the matter comes up for vote. You can do this by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202)224-3121 or by finding individual contact information here.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.