On the recordJune 13, 2017
today is an extraordinary day. Today is an auspicious day, for we will be discussing issues of war and peace. Believe it or not, we rarely discuss such important issues. We have been at war for 15 years. There have been a handful of debates--most of them indirect, most of them forced only under duress, and most of them would have been avoided if the leadership of both parties could avoid them, but today they cannot avoid this debate because this is what is called a privileged motion. Today we will discuss the involvement of the United States in the Middle East, and we will also discuss whether we should engage in a new war in Yemen. Today we will discuss an arms sale to Saudi Arabia that threatens the lives of millions of Yemenis, but we will discuss something even more important than an arms sale, we will discuss whether we should be actively involved. Should the United States be actively involved with refueling the Saudi planes, with picking targets, with having advisers on the ground? Should we be at war in Yemen? If you remember your Constitution, it says no President has that authority--only to repel imminent attack--but no President alone has the unilateral authority to take us to war. Yet here we are on the verge of war. What will war mean for Yemen? Seventeen million folks in Yemen live on the brink of starvation. I think to myself, is there ever anything important that can happen in Washington?…
