To Make Peace the Victor: Congressman Doggett Urges Passage of Yemen War Powers Resolution
***Press Release***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 4, 2019 | Contact: Kate Stotesbery 202-225-4865 |
To Make Peace the Victor: Congressman Doggett Urges Passage of Yemen War Powers Resolution
Washington, D.C. — Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, spoke on the floor of the House this morning during debate on the Yemen War Powers Resolution. The House of Representatives is set to pass this bicameral legislation, S.J. Res. 7, already passed by the Senate, and send it to President Trump's desk—to finally end U.S. military support for the Saudi Arabian coalition in the Yemeni civil war. "The blood of innocents stains this Trump Administration," said Congressman Doggett. "And while the Trump family pals around with Saudi murderers, that blood continues to flow in the world's worst humanitarian disaster. Only last week, four long years after the first Saudi assault on Yemen, they killed another group of children at a hospital, apparently with an American bomb."
"Hearts break for each life lost. But until we break with the Saudis, the bombing, the starvation, the disease, the slaughter will continue. Months, years, hundreds of small graves ago, this Congress should have done its job," said Congressman Doggett. "Today is a moment of moral clarity, a moment for this Chamber to act as the Constitution requires—to weigh war and peace. And, for once, to extract ourselves from a war we did not start and to find a way to make peace the victor. We can finally place a clean War Powers Act resolution directly on President Trump's desk and do so today. Let us do what is right. Let us do so before more young lives are destroyed."
He also specifically urged that his colleagues reject any Motion to Recommit, just like the one that derailed passage during the last vote on this resolution in the House. Watch his speech here urging a step toward peace in the world's worst humanitarian crisis, or read it below:
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett
House Floor Speech
April 4, 2019
"The blood of innocents stains this Trump Administration. And while the Trump family pals around with the Saudis, Saudi murderers, the blood continues to flow in the world's worst humanitarian disaster. Only last week, four years after the first Saudi assault on Yemen, they killed another group of children at a hospital, apparently with American bombs. Just as the Trump Administration has aided and abetted war crimes in Yemen, this Congress has aided and abetted the Trump Administration in avoiding any accountability.
Last year, Republicans blocked any consideration of what was a bipartisan Senate Resolution to stop U.S. involvement in this war. And most recently, these folks used a devious motion to recommit, whose real purpose was not the very worthy goal of condemning anti-Semitism, but the sole purpose was to obstruct this resolution and ensure it never became adopted by Congress.
Today, we must reject any such motion, no matter how worthy it may be. It can be dealt with in other legislation, and order a halt all American involvement in this travesty. We're talking about our relations with the Saudis. You know those folks. They're the ones with the leader with a bone-saw to dismember an opponent, to torture women for asserting their rights. Hearts do break for those who are lost and tortured, but until we break with the Saudis in Yemen, the bombing, the starvation, the disease, the slaughter will continue. Months, years, hundreds of small graves ago, this Congress should have done its job.
Today is a moment of moral clarity, a moment for this Chamber to act as the Constitution requires—to weigh war and peace. And, for once, to extract ourselves from a war we did not start and to find a way to make peace the victor. We can finally place a clean War Powers Act resolution directly on President Trump's desk and do so today. Let us do what is right. Let us do so before more young lives are destroyed."
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