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peter defazio
Progressives Demand End to US Involvement on 7th Anniversary of Saudi-Led War on Yemen
"Seven years ago today, the United States began unauthorized military participation in Saudi Arabia's devastating war in Yemen. In the time since, Saudi Arabia's airstrikes and air-and-sea blockade have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and threatened millions more with famine, triggering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said in a statement.
"On this grim anniversary--spanning seven years and three presidential administrations--we are calling for an immediate end to American involvement in the Saudi-led coalition's brutal military campaign," said the lawmakers. Time is of the essence, they stressed, because "with each passing day, the crisis in Yemen intensifies."
Biden promised over a year ago to end U.S. support for "offensive operations" in Yemen, but his administration has continued to offer hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons maintenance and billions in arms sales to Saudi and Emirati regimes accused of war crimes. Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Right Council in October voted not to renew the mandate of the independent monitoring group investigating potential violations of international law in the conflict.
"Saudi airstrikes have escalated in recent months," the lawmakers said Friday, "killing and injuring four times as many civilians as the previous year."
At the same time that civilian casualties are surging, humanitarian aid is drying up. "The Saudi blockade has reportedly prevented all fuel from arriving at Yemen's major port since January, causing massive shortages," said the lawmakers. "And with 30% of Yemen's wheat imports coming from Ukraine and food prices soaring, acute hunger is expected to increase five-fold."
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As Jayapal, Sanders, Khanna, and DeFazio noted, "Congress has repeatedly voted to end the United States' unconstitutional participation in this conflict."
"This past fall, for the third time in as many years, a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives passed a measure in the National Defense Authorization Act to terminate ongoing military involvement," the lawmakers said. "Still, the flow of U.S. logistics, spare parts, and maintenance essential to Saudi Arabia's devastating bombings and aerial siege continues to this day."
"We remain committed to invoking Congress' constitutional authorities to pass a new Yemen War Powers Resolution to end unauthorized involvement in this conflict."
"We know that concern is not limited to Congress," said the lawmakers, who pointed out that when Biden was a presidential candidate in 2019, he urged Congress to override then-President Donald Trump's veto and pass a War Powers Resolution to end U.S. military involvement in Yemen.
Earlier this month, as the White House sought to contain a spike in oil prices amid Russia's war on Ukraine, the de facto rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined to accept Biden's phone calls and reportedly demanded even deeper U.S. involvement in Yemen.
After that, the lawmakers said Friday, "there is no better time for the president to fulfill his promise: 'end U.S. support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen,' and 'make clear that America will never again check its principles at the door just to buy oil or sell weapons.'"
"While the United States may not be able to unilaterally end all fighting in Yemen, we can stop participating in Saudi Arabia's brutal campaign, and exert leverage to compel them to lift their blockade," said the lawmakers.
"Now, on this solemn anniversary, we urge the Biden administration to act," the lawmakers continued. "If not, we remain committed to invoking Congress' constitutional authorities to pass a new Yemen War Powers Resolution to end unauthorized involvement in this conflict."
"American complicity in this humanitarian disaster has persisted for too long," they added, "and we will not allow it to continue."
House Dems Vow to Introduce War Powers Resolution for Yemen
"We will not sit by as the Constitution is ignored and the Yemeni people suffer seven years into this unauthorized war," Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)--who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus--and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) wrote in The Nation. "If the administration refuses to act, Congress will force them to. In advance of the seventh anniversary of this war, we will work with our colleagues in Congress to pass a new Yemen War Powers Resolution."
"Our aim is clear: to reassert Congress's constitutional war powers authority, terminate unauthorized U.S. involvement in this endless war, reinvigorate diplomatic efforts, and ease this devastating humanitarian disaster," they continued. "American complicity has persisted in this conflict for too long--now it's time for Congress to act."
Progressive groups welcomed the lawmakers' resolve, with DemandProgress tweeting that "a war powers resolution is the best way to end ALL unauthorized U.S. support for the devastating Saudi-UAE-led war on Yemen. It's time for Congress to reclaim its authority over war!"
The lawmakers noted some of the war's grim realities: indiscriminate airstrikes that have killed thousands of civilians; the destruction of vital infrastructure; a crippling blockade on Yemen's ports that has restricted access to food, fuel, and medicines and has exacerbated a crisis in which 16 million Yemenis are on the edge of starvation and over two million children suffer from acute malnutrition.
Jayapal and Fazio continued:
A year ago last week, President Biden announced that he would withdraw U.S. support from the Saudi-led coalition's "offensive" operations in Yemen. This suggested there would be dramatic decreases in military logistical support and arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Yet the exact opposite has occurred. Last year, the administration provided over $1 billion in weaponry to Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. continues to provide logistical support that is essential to the Saudi air force's deadly bombings.
"Since 2015, the United States has directly participated in this war without authorization from Congress," the lawmakers wrote. "This is in clear violation of Article I of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which grants Congress the power to declare war and authorize U.S. military involvement."
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"The disturbing truth," they added, "is that the United States, through its military involvement in the Saudi-led coalition's war against the Houthis in Yemen, has been directly participating in this horrific war for too long. It's time for this complicity to end."
Sanders Takes on Pharma Greed With Rule to End 'Price Gouging'
In the face of new developments, Sanders said in a statement, a rule addressing soaring prescription drug prices is as necessary as ever.
While the new rule would have broad implications, Sanders specifically takes aim at Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical giant that the U.S. Army has offered an exclusive license to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus.
"American taxpayers have already spent more than $1 billion on Zika research and prevention efforts, including millions to develop a vaccine. The Department of Health and Human Services gave Sanofi $43 million to develop the vaccine with $130 million in federal funding still to come," Sanders' office said in a statement. "But Sanofi has refused to agree to sell the drug back to Americans at a fair price. Without a fair pricing agreement, the company can charge Americans whatever astronomical price it wants for its vaccine."
Sanders, who spent much of his 2016 presidential campaign railing against the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, called such an arrangement "simply unacceptable."
"Americans should not be forced to pay the highest prices in the world for a vaccine we spent more than $1 billion to help develop," Sanders said. "Sanofi gets more than one-third of its roughly $34 billion in revenues from the United States alone, and its CEO made nearly $5 million in salary last year. Yet they have rejected the U.S. Army's request for fair pricing."
Sanders continued:
Sanofi and the rest of the pharmaceutical industry cannot be allowed to make huge profits on the backs of working class Americans, many of whom cannot afford the medication they are prescribed. The days of allowing Sanofi and other drug makers to gouge American consumers after taking billions in taxpayer money must end. That is why I am introducing legislation to demand fairer, lower prices for the Zika vaccine and for every drug developed with government resources. This is a fight that we cannot afford to lose.
An analysis (PDF) of the rule by the Congressional Budget Office found that the rule would save the federal government $6 billion over the next decade.
As Sanders often points out, the United States spends far more on pharmaceutical drugs--and on healthcare more broadly--than other industrialized nations.
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