The Senate voted Wednesday to debate a resolution that would end U.S. support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen, and in doing so ignored a push from the Trump administration to not retaliate against Saudi Arabia for its role in the murder of dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
Senators voted 63-37 to discharge the resolution from committee and debate it on the floor. As a result of the vote, senators this week will debate whether the United States should end support provided to Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen in a long-running war against Iran-backed Houthis.
The vote followed a closed-door Senate briefing, led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, about America’s role in Yemen as well as the recent murder of Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi government officials.
Senate Republicans and Democrats who left the briefing were upset that CIA Director Gina Haspel, who investigated the Khashoggi murder, was not part of the briefing.
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While the measure has little chance of clearing Congress this year, it sends a signal to both President Trump and the Saudi government that lawmakers plan to take action to sanction the country over the death of dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
A CIA investigation found that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed the murder of Khashoggi, and lawmakers are now determined to sanction him in a way that President Trump has been reluctant to do.
Many lawmakers have been eager to end U.S. involvement and rejected the argument made by Mattis and Pompeo that withholding support from the Saudis in Yemen would empower Iran.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, backed bringing up the resolution and said it “should help force a diplomatic resolution on the nearly four-year-long war and reduce the humanitarian crisis where 14 million Yemenis are on the brink of death from starvation.”
Still, the resolution faces an uphill battle this year. The House, under Republican control until the end of the year, is unlikely to take up the measure.
Earlier Wednesday, Mattis said there is “no smoking gun” connecting the crown prince with Khashoggi’s murder.
Other Republicans who backed the measure include Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Susan Collins, of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
Most Republicans voted against taking up the resolution.
