Political Quotes

“I rise today to discuss S.J. Res. 54, a pointed statement from the U.S. Senate that the status quo in Yemen is not tenable, that we will not stand idly by as the President lends our country's name to the calamitous military forays of another nation, and that our security partners across the world do not have a blank check. To my knowledge, this is the first time the Senate has considered a joint resolution under this provision, which is directly derived from the Wars Powers Resolution. This is an important step to reasserting Congress's role in authorizing the use of force. I was proud to see a strong show of support for the procedural vote to move this resolution forward, and I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle continue to embrace that moral fortitude. I am also pleased to support Senator Young's amendment to this resolution, which I understand Senator Sanders also supports. This language would clarify that refueling operations definitively constitute U.S. support for hostilities in this context, and I know he has been very focused on this issue of Yemen and a critical voice in the Senate on this crisis. Some may have been holding out hope that the administration would show a good-faith effort to hold the Saudi coalition accountable for its actions in Yemen or to hold the Saudi Government and the Crown Prince accountable for all of their actions. Well, we haven't seen that leadership.…”