The US Senate ended the debate around a bill to end Saudi Arabia’s aid to wage a war in Yemen. 63 senators voted to end the debate, exceeding the required threshold of 60 votes. Thus, in the near future a vote will be taken on the adoption of the bill itself.
It is sponsored by politicians of a wide range of views: libertarian Mike Lee, liberal Chris Murphy, and socialist Bernie Sanders. They intend to ban the White House of supporting the army of Saudi Arabia. It is also supposed to withdraw all American troops and special reaction forces from Yemen.
Last year this bill was already passed in the Senate, but at that time it secured the support of only 45 lawmakers. But now, after the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the number of opponents of Saudi Arabia among the senators has increased dramatically. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis persuaded lawmakers not to vote for this document. Pompeo frightened senators that in case of refusal to support Saudi Arabia, it would begin to buy Russian C-400 systems. But to no avail.
If proponents of the bill get 67 votes or more at the time of adoption, they will be able to overcome Trump’s presidential veto.