(Washington D.C., December 8, 2021) – Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted against a joint resolution to ban a $650 million weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. President Biden approved this sale of missiles and missile launchers in November, despite promises to recenter U.S foreign policy on human rights and democratic values and to end weapons sales to the Saudi government. Senators Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Bernie Sanders introduced the resolution, which was defeated by a 67 to 30 vote.
"The Senate missed a critical opportunity to end U.S. support for the devastating Saudi-led war in Yemen, a war that has seen Saudi coalition forces commit numerous violations of international humanitarian law, violations that likely amount to war crimes," said John Hursh, Program Director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). "The Biden administration's abandonment of its promises to end U.S. support—including weapons sales—to the Saudi government over this ill-conceived and unnecessary war is deeply disappointing, but so too is the Senate's failure to support this bipartisan effort to hold the administration to account."
Since Saudi Arabia entered the Yemen civil war in 2015, an estimated 230,000 people have died due to the conflict and at least five million people are on the brink of famine.
