Striking the military assets of the Houthi Movement, the Washington in the late hours of Thursday began military operations against Yemen.
The US Air Force stated in an announcement that the force had carried out targeted attacks “on over 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems”.
The coordinated operations between the US and the UK, according to US President Joe Biden, are intended to show that Washington won’t abide by the Houthi assaults on ships in the Red Sea. The US army’s primary and most significant reaction to Houthi attacks on ships was the US strikes, which were backed by Canada, Australia, Bahrain, and the Netherlands.
The severity of the danger posed by Houthi assaults to international shipping has led to the suspension of operations in the Red Sea by major corporations.
Legislators from both Democrats and Republicans have sharply criticized the mission, charging Biden with transgressing US Constitutional Amendment 1.
According to Article 1 of the American Constitution, Congress must approve any act of war, transgressing a foreign soil. Prior to this week’s assault on Yemen, Biden informed Congress about the planned actions but did not request approval. It has long been known that the article serves as an oversight on and limit on the White House’s authority to declare war.
Article 1
Congress is given the ability to call for war by the contentious Section 8 of Article 1, which states that the United States Congress may bear the discretion to… initiate war.
The third phrase of portion 10 is the exact portion of the article that calls for express legislative consent before taking military action. In a post on X, a Democratic Lawmaker described the strikes as an inappropriate breach of the Constitution.
Another Democratic Congresswoman also commented, “The people do not want more of our taxpayer dollars going to endless war and the killing of civilians,” mirroring Jayapal’s remarks. She further called for Putting an end to the bombardment and improve for us.
Using social media, other progressive politicians including Rashida Tlaib, Mark Pocan, and Ro Khanna denounced the military operation as being against Article 1.
But it was not only Democrats who expressed disapproval of Biden’s latest actions. Republican Mike Lee reposted Ro Khanna’s X tweet. Party allegiance is irrelevant when it comes to the Constitution, he explained.
“I am potentially fine with striking Yemen to defend critical shipping channel & response to aggression,” commented Republican Congressman Chip Roy of Texas. However, he challenged the absence of congressional consent, posing the question, “Under what authority was this carried out?”
Republicans who felt that the strikes were long overdue, such as Lindsey Graham, Roger Wicker, Mitch McConnell, Joni Ernst, and Rick Scott, expressed approval of government’s move.
The US Congress approved the War Powers Resolution, sometimes referred to as the War Powers Act, about 50 years ago. According to the Act, if House has not formally declared war or authorized the military actions, the president must notify Congress within two days of the start of any military action and must end it within 60 days of that beginning.
