CMEP Praises Passage of Resolution Removing U.S. Armed Forces from Yemen

The House of Representatives voted on Thursday, April 4, 2019, to pass a joint resolution directing the President to remove all U.S. armed forces from supporting the Saudi-led coalition’s war effort in Yemen. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) praises this bipartisan vote as a promising step toward addressing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis that has left 80 percent of Yemen’s 28 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Earlier last month, S.J.RES. 7 passed the Senate on a 54 to 46 vote setting up Thursday’s vote in the House. President Trump has expressed his administration’s intent to continue backing the Saudi intervention and has threatened to veto. Yesterday, the House joined this historic bipartisan joint resolution in a 247-175 vote that sent a strong message to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. CMEP urges the President to reconsider. Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, CMEP’s Executive Director, says, “In the interest of ending U.S. complicity in a conflict, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians and displaced over 2.5 million people, we call upon President Trump to sign this resolution into law. The destruction in Yemen neither promotes regional stability nor is in the interest of the United States. Not only does the humanitarian crisis demand an immediate response, but the U.S. must also stop being a contributory factor in the escalation and continuation of the conflict.”