Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act--

Floor Speech

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, along with Senator Murphy and Senator Lee, I rise to talk about one of the most important jobs the U.S. Congress has, and that is to fulfill its constitutional responsibility about whether the United States of America engages in military action.

We can disagree about the merits of this or that military action, but there should be absolutely no confusion that sending men and women of the U.S. military into conflict is the responsibility not of the President of the United States alone but of the U.S. Congress.

Let us be very clear--and I say this especially to my conservative friends who talk about the Constitution all the time. Let me remind them as to what article I, section 8 of the Constitution reads in no uncertain terms: ``The Congress shall have Power . . . to declare War.'' The Founding Fathers gave the power to declare war to Congress-- the branch most accountable to the people. For far too long, Congress, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has, in my view, abdicated its constitutional role in authorizing war. We are moving down a very slippery slope by which Congress is now becoming increasingly irrelevant in terms of that vitally important issue.

In my view, the time is long overdue for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority. That is what Senator Lee, Senator Murphy, and I are doing with S.J. Res. 54. I am proud to have as cosponsors on that resolution Senator Durbin, Senator Booker, Senator Warren, Senator Leahy, Senator Markey, Senator Feinstein, and Senator Wyden.

Many Americans are unaware that the people of Yemen--one of the poorest countries in the world--are suffering terribly today in a devastating civil war with Saudi Arabia and their allies on one side and Houthi rebels on the other. In November of last year, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator said that Yemen was on the brink of the ``largest famine the world has seen for many decades.''

So far, thousands of civilians have died. The last count that I have seen is about 10,000. Over 40,000 have been wounded in the war. There are 15 million people who lack access to clean water and sanitation in an infrastructure which has been devastated. More than 20 million people in Yemen--over two-thirds of the population--need some kind of humanitarian support, with nearly 10 million people in acute need of assistance. This is a humanitarian disaster.

This very sad picture of a young child who faces starvation is what is taking place throughout this country. Sadly, this is not the only child in that position. Famine is a serious and growing problem in Yemen. Further, more than 1 million suspected cholera cases have been reported, potentially representing the worst cholera outbreak in world history. The pictures I have here today have been taken by photojournalists in Yemen, and they can attest to this human disaster.

One of the problems we have is, unfortunately, foreign policy is not an issue we talk about enough on the floor, and it is certainly not talked about enough in the media. Many Americans today are not aware that American forces have been actively engaged in the support of the Saudi coalition in this war--in its providing intelligence and the aerial refueling of planes whose bombs have killed thousands of people and made this crisis far worse.

My colleagues and I, along with all of our cosponsors, believe that as Congress has not declared war or authorized military force in this conflict, the U.S. involvement in Yemen is unconstitutional and unauthorized and the U.S. military support of the Saudi coalition must end. Without congressional authorization, our engagement in this war should be restricted to providing desperately needed humanitarian aid and diplomatic efforts to resolve this terrible civil war. That is why Senator Lee and Senator Murphy and I have introduced this joint resolution pursuant to the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which calls for an end to U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen.

The War Powers Resolution defines the introduction of U.S. Armed Forces to include the ``assignment of members of such Armed Forces to command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany the regular or irregular military forces of any foreign country or government when such military forces are engaged, or there exists an imminent threat that such forces will become engaged, in hostilities.'' Assisting with targeting intelligence and refueling warplanes as they bomb those targets clearly meet this definition.

Here is the bottom line: If the U.S. Congress wants to go to war in Yemen, vote on that war, but I and the cosponsors of this legislation do not believe that the authority to go to war is now appropriate. We think what is going on now is unconstitutional, and unless Congress authorizes this war, it should be ended and ended immediately.

I look forward to a colloquy with Senator Lee and with Senator Murphy. I now yield to Senator Lee, who has been very active on this issue from day one. I thank the Senator.

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Mr. SANDERS. Before I answer that very important question, I thank Senator Lee for his remarks. He is right on virtually everything he has said.

I want to bring Senator Murphy into this colloquy. Senator Murphy has been ahead of his time in focusing attention on what is going on in Yemen. He is one of the original sponsors of this legislation.

If Senator Murphy would express his thoughts on this issue.

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Mr. SANDERS. Well, let me thank Senator Murphy for his comments and Senator Lee before him. I think they touch on the most important issues. I wish to respond to what Senator Lee and Senator Murphy both said, but I wish to make a point that needs to be made again and again.

This is not a partisan issue. We are talking about Democratic administrations acting militarily without congressional authorization. We are talking about Republican administrations doing the same. Senator Lee is a conservative Republican. Senator Murphy is a Democrat. I am an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats. So if you are talking about bipartisanship, you are looking at it right here.

I should tell you that there are many organizations around the country--conservative and progressive--that are raising exactly the same issue that we are raising right here, and that is that Congress has to reassert its congressional authority over the issues of war.

If you want to go to war and you think the war in Yemen makes sense, that is fine. Come down here on the floor and tell us why you feel that way. Tell the American people and tell your constituents why you think it is a good idea to work with Saudi Arabia to wreak utter horror on one of the poorest countries in the world. Fine, come on down here and tell us. What we have to do, from a precedent point of view, is finally to say to our Republican President or a Democratic President: Enough is enough. Listen to the Constitution.

The Founding Fathers of this country were amazingly smart on this issue, and they understood that before we send our young men--and now women--off to war to die or to get maimed, there better well be a very good reason that we have to explain to the people who elected us--not just somebody sitting up there in the Oval Office. That is why the authority for going to war is vested in the representatives of the people, whether we are elected for 2 years or elected for 6 years.

I would also point out that this is not the first time that the Congress has weighed in on the devastating war in Yemen. In November of last year, the House of Representatives--and I hope my Senate colleagues know this--voted by a vote of 366 to 30. That was not even close. There was overwhelming support among Democrats and Republicans. They passed a nonbinding resolution stating that the United States' involvement in the Yemen civil war is unauthorized. The Democratic leadership supported it, as did the Republican chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce.

Here is the bottom line. The bottom line is that Congress has ducked its responsibilities for many years, and if we continue to duck our responsibility on the all-important issue of U.S. military intervention, this Congress and, in fact, the people of the United States become increasingly irrelevant on this most important matter.

We are bringing forward a privileged motion. There will be a vote on this issue in one form or another. If you like the war in Yemen, then be prepared to defend why you think it is a great idea to work with the Saudis to destroy the infrastructure and to create a situation where famine and cholera are rampant in that incredibly poor country. Come on down and tell us why you think it is a good idea. If not, I hope you will vote with us to end this war and to allow the United States to get involved in bringing the warring parties together to see if we can bring peace and to see if we can bring humanitarian relief to these terribly suffering people.

I yield to Senator Lee.

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I say to Senator Lee that I think that is an excellent question. That was just the question that I was going to ask of Senator Murphy, because I think we understand that in recent history, when there is chaos and confusion in a country, it provides an extraordinary opportunity for al-Qaida and their allies to move in.

We have spent billions and billions of dollars fighting al-Qaida and their affiliates, and I fear very much, as you have indicated, that the situation we are creating in Yemen in many ways is making life easier for them.

I would ask this of Senator Murphy--and maybe listeners might be surprised by this: What side of this battle is al-Qaida on in Yemen right now?

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Illinois very much for his perceptive remarks and for reminding us that the time is long overdue for the U.S. Congress to accept its constitutional responsibilities.

I wanted to ask Senator Lee if he--we are running out of time here-- has some closing remarks.

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me conclude by thanking Senator Lee, Senator Murphy, Senator Durbin this afternoon, thanking Senator Booker, Senator Warren, Senator Leahy, Senator Markey, Senator Feinstein, and Senator Wyden for their cosponsorship of S.J. Res. 54.

Let me summarize it very briefly in this way: Congress cannot continue to abdicate its responsibility on the all-important issue of how and when the United States becomes involved in military intervention. We cannot continue to run away from that issue.

If you think the war in Yemen and siding with the Saudis on this war makes sense, then come down to the floor of the Senate, make your position clear, tell your constituents what you believe, and then vote for the war but have the courage, at least, to accept your responsibility as a Member of the U.S. Congress and not abdicate it to the President.

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