Senate rejects Rand Paul’s bid to chip away at Yemen war support
by Travis J. Tritten
November 15, 2018 12:46 PM
The Senate on Thursday voted down a resolution from Sen. Rand Paul aimed at blocking a weapons sale to Bahrain to potentially stymie the Mideast ally from waging war in Yemen.
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee both opposed the move, and the chamber voted 77-21 to block the resolution that was designed to thwart the $300 million sale of Lockheed Martin missiles and launchers.
It was the latest defeat on Capitol Hill for lawmakers who want to limit U.S. support for Bahrain amid growing concern over the conflict in Yemen, which has turned into one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. The Republican majority in the House also blocked a vote on a War Powers Resolution this week that would have ended intelligence and logistical support.
“I think that the war in Yemen is counterproductive. I think that our involvement there is leading to more chaos, I think the Senate has abdicated their duty and their role,” said Paul, R-Ky.
Bahrain is among the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that is locked in a protracted three-year war with Houthi rebels backed by Iran. The State Department announced in September it wanted to sell 110 of the Army Tactical Missiles System, or ATACMS, missiles along with 120 rocket pods that the kingdom could use on the battlefield.
Paul called his resolution “your proxy vote on the war in Yemen." In a letter Wednesday urging fellow senators to support it, he said Bahrain’s loss of new missiles would be the “beginning of the end” for the conflict.
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