On Tuesday afternoon the House Rules Committee will consider whether to allow a floor vote on Amendment 339 to the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment, led by California Rep. Ro Khanna and House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff, defunds U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
The Khanna-Schiff amendment seeks to enforce the Bernie Sanders-Mike Lee-Chris Murphy Yemen War Powers Resolution passed by Congress and vetoed by President Trump. The Khanna-Schiff amendment does this in three key ways:
- it attaches the Sanders-Lee-Murphy prohibition to the “must-pass,” hard-to-veto NDAA, which “funds the troops”;
- it makes clear Congressional intent that prohibiting unconstitutional participation in the war includes prohibiting the provision of intelligence for targeting Saudi-UAE airstrikes;
- it prohibits the provision of spare parts to the Saudi-UAE war.
In a just and more perfect world, we’ll be able to assume that amendments like the Khanna-Schiff amendment will be considered and adopted by the Democratic-controlled House. If past is prologue, we don’t live in that world yet. Therefore, I ask you to call your Representative now and urge them to co-sponsor, speak out for and vote for the Khanna-Schiff amendment on Yemen, to ensure that the Khanna-Schiff amendment receives a floor vote and that we win that vote decisively to help end the war.
The Congressional switchboard is 202-225-3121. When you speak to a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like:
“I urge you to co-sponsor, speak out for and vote for the Khanna-Schiff amendment to end all U.S. participation in the Saudi-UAE war in Yemen. The lives of Yemeni kids are hanging on your vote.”
When you’ve made your call, please report it below in the comments.