On May 3, Tess Bridgeman had an important piece at Just Security following the failure of Congress to override Trump’s veto of bipartisan legislation that had directed him to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities in the Saudi-UAE war in Yemen. While I disagree with some of her claims, I agree with her that Congress should attach specific prohibitions of U.S. participation in the war to “must pass” legislation – among other tactics to enforce its war powers.
 
She specifically calls for Congress to:
 
1. Expressly prohibit any further U.S. assistance or support, including intelligence sharing and logistics support activities, to Saudi-UAE for their war in Yemen; and
 
2. Suspend Direct Commercial Sales licenses for maintenance and sustainment of fighter aircraft used in Saudi-UAE offensive operations in Yemen.
 
The first, she says, would have the impact of ending activities the U.S. is currently undertaking. The second, she says, would pressure Saudi-UAE to get serious about negotiations to end the conflict: it would ground Saudi-UAE fighter aircraft in short order, as they rely on maintenance and spare parts provided under U.S. licenses.
 
The crucial drawback of these ideas so far is:  

1. The main “muss pass” vehicle that most people have in mind for attaching these provisions is the National Defense Authorization Act, which is not likely to become law until the end of the year; and
 
2. According to the UN and aid groups working in Yemen, ten million human beings in Yemen are at the brink of being beyond saving. They can’t wait until the end of the year.
 
There’s a way out of this dilemma, and that is to not wait for NDAA, but to attach these provisions to any must-pass legislation, anything that moves, not just NDAA. The problem with this idea is that there’s hardly anybody in Congress right now with the power to do this with a track record of doing anything that aggressive against unconstitutional war. But there is at least one such person: Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
 
1. Senator Paul once attached an AUMF to a water bill to force the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to debate and vote on the use of military force against ISIS.
 
2. Senator Paul once conducted a talking filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA, forcing the Obama Administration to clarify that it was not, in fact, asserting that it had the legal authority to launch a preemptive drone strike against an alleged terrorist on U.S. soil.
 
Urge Senator Paul to attach Tess Bridgeman’s suggested specific prohibitions on U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen to ANY "must-pass" legislation by signing our petition.