Senate fails to override Trump’s Yemen veto

The Senate on Thursday failed to override President Trump’s veto of legislation ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Senators voted 53-45 on the attempt to override Trump’s veto, falling short of the 67 votes needed to be successful.

The resolution, which initially passed the Senate in March, requires Trump to withdraw any troops in or affecting Yemen within 30 days unless they are fighting al Qaeda.

{mosads}Trump vetoed the measure in April — marking the second veto of his administration and his second veto in roughly a month.

“This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future,” Trump said in his veto statement.

Any veto override attempt was expected to fall short after the resolution passed the Senate initially with 54 votes. Because the Senate voted first on the measure, its failure to nix Trump’s veto effectively kills any override attempts on Capitol Hill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged his colleagues to vote to uphold Trump’s veto, arguing the War Powers Act wasn’t the right tool for lawmakers who have concerns about the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

“The War Powers Act is a blunt tool and not the right vehicle to diplomatically express concern about the behavior of close partners of the U.S,” McConnell said.

He added that the resolution would “make it actually more difficult to prevent the loss of innocent lives.”

GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Steve Daines (Mont.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Todd Young (Ind.) voted to override Trump’s veto. 

Democrats acknowledged their efforts to override Trump’s veto would fall short. To be successful they would have needed to pick up 13 GOP senators to secure the 20 Republicans needed to buck Trump.

But supporters of the resolution argue that any vote, even if it fails, helps keep attention on the war in Yemen and pressure on the administration to try to improve the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

“Involvement in Yemen is far from being in the best interests of the United States. … Every day it only becomes clearer and clearer that Saudi Arabia is not an ally that deserves our unwavering, unflinching, unquestionable support in military intervention,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who co-sponsored the resolution.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) added that “instead of helping the Saudis with their nuclear program and instead of vetoing bipartisan legislation to hold the Saudi government and the crown prince accountable, the president should be actually reaching out on behalf of American interests.”

Saudi Arabia has emerged as a growing split between Trump and Congress in the wake of the slaying last fall of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who was a critic of the Saudi government.

Trump has refused to pin the blame of Khashoggi’s death on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying in a widely panned statement late last year that “maybe he did and maybe he didn’t” order the slaying. Trump added that the U.S. “may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder” of Khashoggi.

Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The Saudi government maintained that the killing was carried out by rogue agents as part of an interrogation that went off track — an explanation that has been met with heavy skepticism by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Trump’s stance has put him at odds with Republicans in Congress as well as his own intelligence community, which has reportedly determined that the Saudi crown prince ordered the killing of Khashoggi.

The Trump administration also dispatched officials to Capitol Hill to brief the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about its investigation, ordered by members of the panel last year, into Khashoggi’s death. But the closed-door briefing only infuriated Republicans, who characterized the meeting as a “waste of time” where they “learned very little.”

But frustrations with the U.S.-Saudi relationship spread beyond Khashoggi’s death.

Senators have tried to pass the Yemen resolution for years over concerns that Saudi Arabia wasn’t doing enough to limit civilian casualties with its strikes in Yemen. They’ve put a blockade on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and were able to successfully pass the resolution in December.

“So long as the United States participates in the military campaign with the Saudis, while not offering any meaningful pressure to get to a political settlement, we are complicit in those doubts. A quarter million people are going to die in the next several months inside Yemen from starvation and disease and malnutrition due to a military campaign that we are a part of,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on Thursday.

The only override of a veto from former President Obama was when Congress shot down his attempt to block legislation allowing families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts. The veto override passed the Senate 97-1.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) also reached out to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this year about a Virginia resident who had been detained in a Saudi prison, where she had been electrocuted and beaten.

“I just think that Saudi Arabia should stop electrocuting American citizens,” Murphy said when asked if Saudi Arabia was trying to improve its relationship with the United States. “That would get them some good graces with the American public.”