Congress blasts ‘unconstitutional’ US strikes on Yemen, says bypassed by Biden

US lawmakers have slammed the Biden administration’s move to attack Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement without seeking congressional approval, arguing that the strikes violated the US Constitution.

“This is an unacceptable violation of the constitution,” said Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat and the chair of the Progressive Caucus. “Article 1 requires that military action be authorized by Congress.”

Biden “is violating Article I of the Constitution by carrying out airstrikes in Yemen without congressional approval. The American people are tired of endless war,” Rashida Tlaib, the sole Palestinian-American member of US Congress, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On Thursday, US president Joe Biden notified Congress, but did not seek its approval before he announced that the US and the United Kingdom launched a series of air and naval strikes on more than a dozen sites in Yemen.

Supported by a coalition made up of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, the US-led airstrikes were met with immediate condemnations from legislators who argued that the constitution was violated as the air strikes were conducted without seeking congressional approval, which was a breach of protocol by Biden.

“Unacceptable,” wrote Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat.

“The United States cannot risk getting entangled into another decades-long conflict without congressional authorization,” a Wisconsin Democrat, Mark Pocan wrote on X.

He called on Biden to engage with Congress “before continuing these airstrikes in Yemen.”