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"His intention is not to unite but to divide. His intention is not to support our ally but to kill this bill with cynical and dishonest tactics, "said Hoyer as Democrats stood up and applauded. "Let's stop playing games with this very important and serious problem."
To convince the president to support the legislation, a group of bipartisan deputies – including representatives Ro Khanna, Democrat of California and one of the main authors of the resolution, and Matt Gaetz, Florida's Republican and one the president's most loyal allies – asked to meet with the president, appealing to his desire "to realize our common interest by responsibly reducing unnecessary conflicts around the world".
The House resolution uses the War Powers Act of 1973, which gives Congress the ability to compel the withdrawal of military forces in the absence of an official declaration of war. These powers, created in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, were almost never used, as legislators refused to intervene in delicate political issues of war, peace and support for the troops.
"When we started talking to people about this situation, they laughed at it," said Stephen Miles, director of Win Without War, a rights coalition that lobbied for the resolution. "They said it would not happen, Congress never invokes the Powers of War Act, it was a very long and difficult education process."
In its justification for opposing the resolution, the White House argued that the "use of the act" is flawed "because the Pentagon has provided" limited support to the member countries of the coalition Saudi in Yemen. This argument may have been more convincing years ago – repeated bipartisan attempts in 2016 to reprimand the US role in the Saudi-led intervention have been blocked in the House and Senate, starting with efforts to block the sale of ammunition to the Saudis.
After the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, a Washington Post editorialist based in Virginia, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, livid in the face of the administration's ambiguous response, signaled a new willingness to reconsider the relationship with Riyadh. Lawmakers are increasingly vocal in reaffirming their control of foreign policy.
"We are recovering our constitutional responsibilities," said Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Mbadachusetts.
And the public has become more aware of the crisis in Yemen, where about 80% of the population would need some form of humanitarian badistance or protection and where millions of people would not have access to drinking water, according to the United Nations.
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