A Step Backward by Nancy OhanianWednesday evening, by a vote of 201-187, the House voted to make sure Saudi war crimes against Yemen would continue unabated— and with U.S. support. House Democrats, primarily led by Ted Lieu and Ro Khanna, have been working to end the slaughter in Yemen since Obama was still in office. Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy made sure this effort would fail and were backed by 195 Republicans and 6 Democrats. 15 Republicans abandoned their party to vote with 172 Democrats who would like to see the war end asap— and to see U.S. participation end immediately. This was a vote on whether or not to allow a vote on Ro Khanna’s resolution on U.S. backing for the Saudi-led war against Yemen. Ryan’s highly unusual procedural ploy attached a one-line rule change to a resolution about wolves. The members who voted in favor of war will never be called out on it by their constituents because of how complicated and hard to find the vote was.The 6 Democrats who crossed the aisle and voted with the GOP:
Anna Eshoo (Silicon Valley)Gene Green (South Houston)Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-western Minnesota)Jim Costa (Blue Dog-California’s Central Valley)Filemón Vela (Blue Dog-Brownsville, TX)Vicente González (Blue Dog-South Texas)
God only knows what Eshoo’s problem is, although it may be something to do with her Assyrian Christian heritage. The other 5 are very right-wing, often voting with the Republicans, and very corrupt, definitely susceptible to bribes from Saudi lobbyists and arms manufacturers.Most of the Republicans who crossed the aisle in the other direction oppose U.S. entanglements overseas and are part of the Freedom Caucus:
Justin Amash (MI)Andy Biggs (AZ)Rod Blum (IA)Dave Brat (VA)Johnny Duncan (TN)Louie Gohmert (TX)Morgan Griffith (VA)Jim Jordan (OH)Raul Labrador (ID)Tom Massie (KY)Mark Meadows (NC)Ralph Norman (SC)Bill Posey (FL)Mark Sanford (SC)David Schweikert (AZ)
Ro Khanna, the principle author of this resolution: “It’s unfortunate that the Republicans broke precedent and blocked our resolution to end US involvement in the war in Yemen. They are abdicating congressional oversight duties on their way out of power… While today’s vote did not go our way, we will not stop fighting to end US involvement in the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history. We must end US complicity in Yemen’s humanitarian disaster.” He vowed to bring it up again in January, when there will be far fewer Republicans in Congress and far more Democrats.Meanwhile, our country is responsible— meaning we (you and I) are responsible— for as many as 14 million people dying of starvation and disease. We, us… you… me. Trump. And those 6 Democrats and 195 Republicans in Congress yesterday. Horrifying.