WASHINGTON _ The Senate advanced a resolution Wednesday calling for an end to U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, a rare bipartisan rebuke of the Trump administration's foreign policy.
The 63-37 procedural vote moves the resolution to the Senate floor, where a vote is expected next week. It has not passed the House.
Winning the support of 14 Republicans for the largely symbolic measure was unusual since the Trump administration had strongly opposed it, sending Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis to Capitol Hill to appear in a closed-door session.
President Donald Trump could veto the resolution if it passes, and the White House threatened to do so as the Senate voted.
The resolution calls for a halt to U.S. military aid for the Saudi-led coalition that is battling Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The civil war has killed tens of thousands of civilians and become what aid workers call the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Congressional anger at the Saudis has been stoked by the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist who lived in Virginia, who was strangled and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 2.
"The bloodshed continues, still abetted by the United States, even amidst further revelations of Saudi depravity," said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who co-sponsored the resolution. Saudi Arabia, he said, "is not an ally that deserves our support."
