Sen. Lee Calls for End to U.S.-Saudi War in Yemen

October 22, 2018

WASHINGTON – In light of Saudi Arabia’s admission that they killed Jamal Khashoggi, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) issued the following statement Monday calling for an end to United States involvement in Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen.

“Killing a United States resident is never acceptable behavior, and the repeated failure to be honest about the incident should call into question the extent of our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Sen. Lee said. “But setting aside the extent of our alliance generally, why should we continue to support Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen when the kingdom is killing our residents and lying about it? It is far past time that the United States Senate had a serious debate regarding our military involvement in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.”

This February, Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), and Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced a resolution to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Houthi forces in Yemen. This March, before the Senate voted to table that resolution, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN) asked fellow senators to “respect the members of the foreign relations committee that deal with this issue” and let the resolution “go back to committee with the commitment that we plan to bring forth legislation to actually deal appropriately with many of the issues relative to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and ourselves.”

"The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has had six months to study the resolution to end U.S. aid to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen,” Lee said. “It is time for a vote.”