The senators argued the Trump administration should consult with Congress before involving U.S. forces in foreign conflicts.
After more than two weeks of U.S. strikes across Yemen, Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have called on the Trump administration to explain its decision-making and lay out a clear strategy for how this new military campaign will proceed.
Since March 15, U.S. forces have been targeting weapons sites, command centers, and leaders of the Houthi rebel movement, a Yemeni faction that the Trump administration recently re-listed as a foreign terrorist organization.
These latest military operations restart a campaign that President Joe Biden began more than a year ago after the Houthis began launching missiles and drones at Israel and commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.
The Houthis have tied their drone and missile attacks to the fate of the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip against Hamas.
When a cease-fire went into effect in Gaza in January, the Houthis called off their attacks. When that same cease-fire collapsed in March, the Houthis threatened to resume their attacks.
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Writing to President Donald Trump in an April 1 letter, Merkley and Paul condemned fending off the Houthi attacks targeting Israel and commercial shipping but questioned the efficacy of renewed U.S. military operations in Yemen.
The bipartisan pair of senators noted that even before Biden ordered his strikes on Yemen, the U.S. government had supported a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states in a multiyear effort to defeat the Houthis and restore power to the U.N.-recognized Yemeni government.
Rather than establishing deterrence, the United States and Saudi-led military operations have only helped to “embolden the Houthis and rally their recruiting base” over the years, Merkley and Paul wrote.
“The rare instances in which the Houthis have calmed their recent efforts to harass Red Sea shipping lanes were during sustained cease-fire periods in the Israel–Hamas war,” the letter from the senators said.
Citing the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Merkley and Paul argued that presidents must consult with Congress before ordering U.S. forces to begin hostilities or ordering them into circumstances where hostilities are likely to occur.
The senators also noted that Congress is empowered by the Constitution to declare war and has not done so with the current military operations across Yemen.
Merkley and Paul requested that the Trump administration provide them with a briefing by April 11 to explain the decision-making behind ordering the new U.S. strikes in Yemen and why it thinks these latest strikes will “now be effective and change the Houthis’ behavior.”
They asked whether the Trump administration will seek congressional authorization for a continuing military campaign against the Houthis.
The senators also noted Trump’s recent comments threatening to bomb Iran, which the U.S. government assesses to be backing the Houthis.
Merkley and Paul asked whether the Trump administration would seek congressional approval before ordering military actions against Iran.
Responding to the letter during an April 1 briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she rejected the idea that recent strikes have emboldened the Houthis.
She said the strikes in Yemen “have been incredibly successful” both against the Houthis and Iran.
“Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks and we have seen they’ve taken out Houthi leaders,” Leavitt said.
When asked whether the Trump administration will confer with Congress going forward, Leavitt said, “I would have to ask our team here at the White House, but the president is well within his authority.”
Leavitt further characterized the recent U.S. operations against Yemen’s Houthis as defensive.
Houthi forces have fired on U.S. aircraft operating over Yemen and warships operating in the nearby waterways.
