Washington, DC – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) hailed today’s landmark Senate vote to end American involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. The legislation (S.J. Res 7), passed 54-46, enforces the 1973 War Powers Act by ending American military participation in a war that has killed untold thousands and put millions of Yemenis on the brink of starvation.
Contact: Tim McHugh, Friends Committee on National Legislation, media@fcnl.org; 202-903-2515
“Today, the Senate voted to reassert congressional authority over war while advancing the cause of peace,” said Diane Randall, FCNL’s Executive Secretary. “We thank Senators Bernie Sanders (VT), Mike Lee (UT), and Chris Murphy (CT) for their steadfast leadership to promote peace in Yemen and end our complicity in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Quakers and friends across the country are pressing for the House to swiftly pass this historic war powers legislation and send it to the president’s desk.”
The House passed a similar version of the legislation in February led by Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17) and is expected to pass the Senate version later this spring.
“For the first time since the Vietnam War, legislation enforcing the War Powers Act is poised to pass both chambers of Congress,” said Kate Gould, FCNL’s legislative director for Middle East policy. She added that in passing the bill, Congress heeded the message of Yemeni human rights defender Radhya Al-Mutawakel that Yemenis are being forced into starvation. “Yemenis are not starving, they are being starved,” Al-Mutawakel said during her recent congressional testimony.
“The Senate has now taken a decisive step in ending the American facilitation of the Yemen war and the world’s largest humanitarian crises,” said Gould. “Millions of grassroots activists, who helped make this vote a reality, want their lawmakers to end this unconscionable war.”
FCNL is the leading faith-based organization lobbying policymakers to end support for the Saudi-led war and de-facto blockade of Yemen. For years, FCNL has worked with a diverse coalition of dozens of peace and security, humanitarian, atrocities prevention, and constitutional rights-focused organizations collectively representing millions of Americans to support this historic bipartisan effort to end the illegal war in Yemen.
As a Quaker organization, FCNL seeks to end war and all threats of war. To learn more, please visit www.fcnl.org.
