“Months, Years—Hundreds of Small Graves Ago—this Congress Should Have Acted”: Floor Speech as Yemen Resolution Passes House

***Press Release***

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"Months, Years—Hundreds of Small Graves Ago—this Congress Should Have Acted":

Floor Speech as Yemen Resolution Passes House

Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Lloyd Doggett spoke on the floor of the House urging passage of H.J.Res. 37, the Yemen War Powers Resolution, of which he is a lead sponsor. The resolution would end unconstitutional U.S. military participation in the Saudi-led coalition's military campaign in Yemen. It just passed the House of Representatives.

"Finally, this House is doing what the Constitution demands: To debate war and peace. The problem here is that President Trump has essentially subcontracted out American foreign policy in the Middle East to a murderous Saudi regime," said Rep. Dogggett. He continued, "85,000 little children under the age of five have been starved to death or have died of disease as a result of Saudi blockades and aggression. Indifference to their suffering is dooming a generation…The days of symbolic action have passed. Months, years, hundreds of small graves ago, this Congress should have acted. Today, we can act to put a stop to this."

You can watch his full speech here, or read an excerpt below:

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"Unlawful, murderous air strikes [are conducted] with bombs made in America on schools, on hospitals, on weddings, on markets. And you know, all these people that speak out about the security of Israel and of America? They seem to have forgotten than these same Saudis have been giving away American-made weapons to Al-Qaeda.

The Saudi leadership, which approved the killing and dismemberment of an American resident journalist, is unsurprisingly not moved by the suffering of these children. They are intent on annihilation of the Yemenis. We cannot let the slaughter continue in the name of American taxpayers. The Saudis do not represent our values, but they are using our tax dollars and our weapons.

Instead of shutting down our government, President Trump needs to shut down cooperation with the regime that tortures women who speak out, who kills its enemies who dare to speak the truth, and that is waging an immoral conflict—the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe. The days of symbolic action passed. Months, years, hundreds of small graves ago, this Congress should have acted. Today we can act to put a stop to this nonsense, this misappropriation of our values in the Middle East."

In October, Congressman Doggett led a House effort urging President Trump to impose sanctions, under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, on Mr. Khashoggi's murderers. As he continues to press to end U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen, he looks to Jamal Khashoggi's warning in the Washington Post about that war: "We should not need to be reminded of the value of human life."

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