Senate Passes Saudi War Resolution That Has Trump Pissed

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Although Republicans have been ridiculously negligent in stopping the harmful and alarming acts of President Donald Trump, some bipartisan legislation in Congress in recent days have proven that there are still issues in which lawmakers can work across the aisle.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed a resolution to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen. Trump’s refusal to acknowledge that human rights abuses there went hand-in-hand with his refusal to condemn the murder of a U.S. resident and Washington Post journalist who was tortured and killed by the Saudi government, Jamal Khashoggi.

The Associated Press reports that:

‘The bipartisan vote Wednesday is another strong rebuke of President Donald Trump’s support for Saudi Arabia, which has been a point of tension with Congress since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

Trump told reporters that he believed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over his own intelligence agencies once again on his knowledge of the plan to torture Khashoggi with a bone saw and murder him, and added that since Saudi Arabia buys military equipment from the United States, he was reluctant to condemn them. Essentially, he told the world that the United States under President Trump can be bought.

As a result, the president is threatening to veto the Senate resolution.

‘The White House has already threatened to veto the legislation, which it says is flawed and could undermine the fight against extremism.

‘The measure in the Senate was co-sponsored by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.’

From here, the resolution will now pass to the House of Representatives before heading to the Oval Office. Should Trump make good on his threat to veto it, it will then head back to Congress and must have two-thirds support of both the Senate and the House to move forward.

‘If the legislation passes the House, it would be the first time lawmakers have invoked the decades-old War Powers Resolution to halt American military involvement in a foreign conflict.’

Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license