On Thursday, the House of Representatives will try once again to pass a War Powers Act challenge to the Yemen War. This resolution is intended to be a copy of the S7 Joint Resolution, which already passed the Senate, and is intended to be passed without amendments, so as to avoid any further delays.
This would be the second time the House has passed a Yemen War challenge this year. The War Powers Act obliges the president to get authorization from Congress for wars, and the resolution notes that this never happened, obliging the US to withdraw its military involvement. Trump has vowed to veto the bill.
The first House challenge, H.J. Res 37, passed easily, but the Republican minority added an amendment expressing opposition to anti-Semitism. This allowed the Senate Republicans to block the resolution in the Senate, arguing it wasn’t about the War Powers Act anymore, but was about anti-Semitism.
It is generally accepted that this is going to be tried again, as even if the House passes the Senate resolution, any amendment would send it back to the Senate, and probably mean it won’t get a vote again. Anti-Semitism resolutions are virtually impossible for many to vote against, and that’s doubly so with Trump trying to brand the Democrats as anti-Jewish, and Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) likening the Democratic left to Hitler. Still, the amendment is a fairly transparent trick, and it remains to be seen how many lawmakers will have the courage to vote against it this time around.
The voting is expected early Thursday, before noon, with first votes possible as soon as 10:30 AM Eastern. Those wishing to call their Representative can find contact information here. Make sure they support the War Powers Act challenge (SJ Res 7) but not amendments, nor any Motion to Recommit.
I can’t wait to hear how that veto will be spun. Gotta be Bolton’s fault.
Being as how Trump will proudly veto any bill presented to him, you kind of wonder why the Dems keep trying. Also, no bill they could ever come up with would stop the CIA wars, many of which are actually between CIA operatives and the Pentagon. How crazy is that?
They keep trying because it is the right thing to do. It puts reps on the record. It produces further evidence that refutes the cynical claim that “the parties are the same”.
Is the USA a real country, or is it some sort of video game? The refusal of the “US Congress” to face the real problems of the nation and to fix all that needs to be done within their domain is getting worse. So much wrangling over sanctions against other countries as if the USA is some sort of feudal king imposing its will on its vassals; so much concentration on irrelevant issues (“Russian interference”) while pretending the slavish devotion to Netanyahu’s kingdom is some sort of evil spell called “antisemitism”, while the big five banks go their merry way destroying the economy and the Trump “Administration” destroys the environment and the mass of the population.
Allies are fed up, but the USA feels able to take over us all. To what end??