Having seen a successful Senate vote late last year and a successful House vote earlier this month both come to naught on ending the Yemen War, the Senate is reportedly planning to try again. Officials say that the fresh Senate bill will be introduced next week.
To successfully get the bill to the White House, identical versions need to pass in both the House and the Senate. Last year this was impossible because the former House leadership kept changing the rules to duck votes. This year, it may depend on whether or not they can keep Israel out of it.
The original plan was for the February 13 House bill to get passed in the Senate as is. But War Powers Act challenges have a specific standing, which theoretically prevents leadership from blocking them. The final House version, however, included an amendment praising Israel and opposing BDS, and the Senate leadership argues that this makes it no longer just a War Powers Act challenge, and strips it of its standing.
So the Senate is starting from scratch again, betting they can once again get a majority to support a clean War Powers Act challenge. The question is whether they can manage to do this without opponents sticking unrelated language about Israel, or anything else, into the text that will ultimately derail it.
Reprinted with permission from Antiwar.com.
