In a rare violate with President Donald Trump, the Senate voted on Wednesday to move ahead with a resolution to end U.S. military brace for the Saudi Arabian-led coalition in the war in Yemen and lawmakers vowed to push for sanctions against the kingdom in the new year.
Eleven of Trump’s suitor Republicans joined Democrats to provide the 60 votes needed to advance the war powers resolution in the Republican-led chamber. The opt paved the way for debate and a vote on U.S. involvement in a conflict that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, many of them immature children and left millions more at risk of starvation and death by disease.
The nearly unprecedented break the 11 Republicans space from Trump was largely symbolic because the House of Representatives is not expected to take the matter up this year. Trump has portended a veto.
But backers of the resolution said it sent an important message that lawmakers are unhappy with the humanitarian dbѓcle in Yemen, and angry about the lack of a strong U.S. response to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.
Republican and Autonomous lawmakers also vowed to keep pushing after the new Congress take office in January for further tough fight against Saudi Arabia, including legislation to impose human rights sanctions and opposition to weapons sales.
“If you appetite to buy our weapons, there are certain things you have to accept. How you use them matters,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham lectured a news conference.
“The individual, the crown prince, is so toxic, so tainted, so flawed, that I can’t ever see myself doing transaction with Saudi Arabia unless there’s a change there,” said Graham, generally a close Trump side in the Senate.
Republicans will hold a slightly larger majority in the new Senate, but Democrats will take control of the Theatre of Representatives, increasing the chances of sanctions legislation passing.
The Trump administration had urged Congress not to oppose U.S. fueling, quarry help and other support for the Saudi-led coalition as it battles the Houthis, Shi’ite Muslim fighters viewed by Yemen’s neighbors as substitutes of Iran.
Earlier on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the administration’s handling of Khashoggi’s killing.
Pompeo recapped his assertion there was no direct evidence linking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the Oct. 2 killing of Khashoggi in Istanbul, in the face a CIA assessment it was likely he ordered the killing.
Riyadh initially denied knowledge of Khashoggi’s disappearance, then offered inconsistent explanations, including that he was killed in a rogue operation.
Trump condemned the murder but has stood by the Saudi crown prince. “He’s the numero uno of Saudi Arabia. They’ve been a very good ally,” Trump told Reuters on Tuesday in an Oval Organization interview.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel briefed leaders of the House of Representatives behind secluded doors about the killing. After the classified meeting, House members said they had not heard anything to alteration their minds about Khashoggi’s death.
Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, likely the next chairman of the Transalpine Affairs Committee when Democrats take control of the House in January, said he intended to hold hearings starting beginning next year on all aspects of Saudi behavior and the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
“Saudi Arabia’s an important … partner, but I don’t consider we can simply look the other way when things happen and talk about business as usual,” Engel said.
Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who held a segregate briefing for the entire Senate, are due to discuss Saudi Arabia with the entire House on Thursday.
But several lawmakers have planned urged that Congress keep the Yemen conflict separate from anger over the killing of Khashoggi, a U.S. local and Washington Post columnist.
They view Saudi Arabia as an essential counterweight in the Middle East to Iran, arch-enemy of nigh unto U.S. ally Israel. White House officials see Saudi support as a linchpin for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan yet to be unveiled by the Trump management.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Wednesday in Jerusalem that Saudi Arabia’s capacity in the Middle East must be taken into account in responding to Khashoggi’s “horrific” fate.
“If Saudi Arabia were to be destabilized, the domain would be destabilized,” Netanyahu told foreign reporters, speaking in English.