House Republicans lost their majority, but they are going to make sure to do what they can to derail opposition to the war on Yemen on their way out. Akbar Shahid Ahmed reports:

Republican leadership in the House of Representatives will move Tuesday evening to quash a bill that would end U.S. support for the brutal Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, a Democratic aide and an activist in touch with multiple Capitol Hill offices told HuffPost. Coming on the first day of a lame-duck session — the GOP’s final few weeks controlling the lower chamber — the bid surprised anti-war advocates and top Democrats who have been rallying opposition to the controversial Yemen war for months and made clear they wanted a serious debate on the matter soon after the midterms.

The Republican leadership torpedoed the previous House resolution against the war (H.Con.Res. 81), and it seems that they are going to do so again. It was a disgraceful stunt when they did it last year, and it’s even more so now that conditions in Yemen have significantly worsened. Supporters of the war on Yemen can’t defend the policy publicly, and so they do everything they can to delay or prevent debates and votes on it. The policy has no merit, it has never been authorized by Congress, and yet it has continued without interruption for more than three and a half years. No one can justify continuing the policy, but somehow it never ends. The current House leadership is a disgrace, and fortunately we won’t have to put up with them for much longer.

The Trump administration’s very belated decision last week to end refueling of coalition planes was an improvement, and it would never have happened without the growing public and Congressional opposition to the war. Unfortunately, as long as other U.S. military assistance for the war continues and the Saudi coalition is under no pressure to end their campaign, that decision is not part of a serious effort to stop the war. The U.S. must halt all participation in the war, and that means ending any and all support for the blockade as well as the bombing campaign. The U.S. has considerable leverage to bring the coalition’s campaign to a halt, but it has to be willing to use it.