As a U.S. campaign of military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen shows no signs of ending soon and questions mount about whether the United States is at war in the Middle East, some lawmakers are signaling they believe it’s time for Congress to weigh in.
Four senators who have been leading voices on issues of war powers for years sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday questioning his legal authority and strategic reasoning behind the ongoing strikes.
“As tensions in the region rise, we believe that American participation in another war in the Middle East cannot happen in the absence of authorization by Congress, following an open debate during which the American public can be informed of the benefits, risks and consequences of such conflict,” the senators wrote in the letter.
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The letter was organized by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and co-signed by Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; and Mike Lee, R-Utah.
The letter comes after the U.S. military has conducted at least nine strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen in response to a Houthi campaign of targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis claim their attacks are in support of Hamas amid Israel‘s war against the militants in the Gaza Strip, but the Houthis have targeted merchant ships from around the world with no…
