Tuesday,
November 27, 2019
'The
Bloodshed Must Stop': Sanders, Khanna, and Schumer Demand Passage of Measure to
End US Complicity in Yemen Slaughter
"Without U.S. support, the Saudi bombings on innocent
civilians could not continue," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, a 2020 Democratic
presidential candidate.
commondreams.org/news/2019/11/27/bloodshed-must-stop-sanders-khanna-and-schumer-demand-passage-measure-end-us
A
young Yemeni boy covered with fake blood takes part in a protest against the
Saudi-led war in front of the United Nations Office on World Children's Day on
November 20, 2019 in Sana'a, Yemen. (Photo: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
With
Congress set to vote as early as next
week on the annual military spending bill, Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer joined Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna in calling
for the inclusion of an amendment that
would end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's years-long assault on Yemen.
"The
humanitarian crisis in Yemen must end," tweeted Schumer,
a Democrat from New York. "A bipartisan majority in Congress has
repeatedly supported ending President [Donald] Trump's support of the Saudi war
in Yemen."
"Progressives
will not support the National Defense Authorization bill if we do not have this
amendment that brings the war in Yemen to an end."
—Rep. Ro Khanna
—Rep. Ro Khanna
Sanders,
a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, quickly echoed Schumer Wednesday.
"Senator
Schumer is right," tweeted Sanders.
"Congress has got to stand up for the Constitution and tell this lawless
president: We are not giving you a Pentagon bill that allows you to partner
with the despotic Saudi regime in its horrific war in Yemen."
Earlier
this year, as Common Dreams reported, the Senate and House passed
a War Powers resolution led by Sanders and Khanna that would have ended U.S.
support for the Saudi war on Yemen, which has created the world's worst
humanitarian crisis. But Trump vetoed the
historic measure in April, and the House and Senate lacked the votes to
override the president's move.
Now
Sanders, Khanna, and Schumer are leading an effort to include a Yemen amendment
in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which will set next
year's military budget.
"Progressives
will not support the National Defense Authorization bill if we do not have this
amendment that brings the war in Yemen to an end," Khanna said Wednesday
in a video produced in partnership with Sanders. "The bloodshed must
stop."
When
Trump vetoed our historic legislation to end the horrors in Yemen, the peace
movement in this country did not give up—they began mobilizing even more
strongly.@RepRoKhanna is absolutely
right. This is how we are going to stop this unconstitutional war.
Listen
to Bernie and Ro at https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/video-audio/sanders-and-khanna-partner-to-end-yemen-war
As
journalist Sam Adler-Bell reported for The
Intercept on Wednesday, progressive anti-war groups are pressuring
Democrats to use their leverage in the House and Senate to push for inclusion
of the Yemen amendment, which is sponsored by Reps. Khanna, Adam Schiff
(D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Adam Smith (D-Calif.).
"Democrats
increasingly purport to support putting an end to the country's many endless
wars," David Segal, executive director of progressive advocacy group
Demand Progress, told The Intercept. "But anything less than
using the NDAA to ensure an end to our involvement in the Yemen war would belie
these claims."
Adler-Bell
reported that some progressive staffers on Capitol Hill are worried "that
Democratic leadership would trade away some of the Yemen language, which is
precisely tailored to cut funding for forms of U.S. assistance that are
essential to the Saudi aerial bombardment."
"The
Democrats have moral authority, procedural power, and bipartisan majorities on
their side," said Segal. "If they let the NDAA go through without
these provisions intact it will amount to a demonstration of cynicism or
learned helplessness that could cost hundreds of thousands more lives."
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Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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