Senators question legality of Biden’s Houthi strikes in Yemen

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the state Sen. Todd Young represents. He is a senator from Indiana.

WASHINGTON ― A growing number of bipartisan lawmakers is questioning President Joe Biden’s legal authorities to conduct strikes on Yemen’s Houthis.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led three other senators in a Tuesday letter to Biden pushing him on the strategic and legal rationale for the recent tit-for-tat strikes against Houthi assets in Yemen without a military authorization from Congress. The objections come following reports the White House is preparing for a sustained campaign that could last several more months in response to the Iran-backed group’s attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

“There is no current congressional authorization for U.S. military action against the Houthis in the Red Sea or Yemen,” Kaine told Defense News. “This has gone beyond a one-off self-defense. As soon as it’s a prediction of a back-and-forth, it’s going to escalate more. This needs Congress now.”

Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Todd Young, R-Ind., also signed onto the Kaine letter questioning Biden’s legal authorities under the 1973 War Powers Act.

In Biden’s notification to Congress outlining his initial Jan. 11 strikes in Yemen , he invoked his authorities as commander-in-chief under Article II of the Constitution to defend U.S. citizens, personnel and assets.

The senators in their letter noted it “could also be argued that directing military action to defend U.S. commercial shipping is within this power.” However, “most vessels transiting through the Red Sea are not U.S. ships, which raises questions about the extent to which these authorities can be exercised.”

“We support smart steps to defend U.S. personnel and assets, hold the Houthis accountable for their actions and deter additional attacks,” they wrote. “We further believe Congress must carefully deliberate before authorizing offensive military action.”

The strikes have not stopped the Houthis from attacking Red Sea ships, and the Biden administration has responded with seven additional strikes since then. Biden acknowledged last week the strikes had not deterred the Houthis , but vowed they would nevertheless continue.

Asked about the White House’s legal authorities, a National Security Council spokesperson told Defense News “we’re not going to speculate about future strikes or action since the Houthis could choose to stop their indiscriminate and unlawful attacks on U.S. and commercial ships at any time.”

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., told Defense News “the War Powers Act is pretty specific,” noting that if the Yemen strikes trigger it “then they’re going to have to come to us.”

The top Republican on that committee, Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, argued Biden’s Yemen strikes are already covered by his constitutional “authorities to protect American citizens and American property.”

The Houthis began firing at commercial ships in October, demanding an end to Israel’s bombardment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that began after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israelis. The Defense Department launched Operation Prosperity Guardian in December with Britain and other allies to defend commercial shipping lanes against Houthi attacks.

Brian Finucane, a former State Department legal adviser who is now a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group think tank, questioned the legality of Biden’s Yemen strikes without congressional authorization. He told Defense News that while “it’s generally accepted” the president has authority to defend U.S. forces from attacks, “in this case the president potentially put U.S. troops in harm’s way.”

“The U.S. has been involved in fighting the Houthis, countering the Houthis in the Red Sea, since Oct. 19,” said Finucane. “That’s when the Houthis launched missiles and drones towards Israel and the USS Carney shot them down.”

Congress passed a resolution in 2019 telling former President Donald Trump to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition’s Yemen campaign against the Houthis, noting lawmakers had never authorized the operation. But Trump vetoed it.

The Saudi bombing campaign, from 2015 to 2022, killed nearly 15,000 civilians, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project . There have been no reports of civilian casualties resulting from the U.S. strikes this month.

Two of the signatories on the Senate letter — Murphy and Lee — spearheaded the Yemen war powers resolution in the Senate during the Trump administration. At least two House lawmakers who sponsored the 2019 Yemen resolution, Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., have also criticized Biden over the lack of congressional authorization for his recent Yemen strikes.

Murphy told Defense News “it’s very likely” the Biden administration requires a congressional authorization for its strikes, but said “there would be a legitimate debate as to whether we should authorize a limited use of force.”

“What the Houthis have done does directly implicate U.S. interests,” said Murphy.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., generally a critic of foreign military intervention, also said “sustained military action” against the Houthis would require a congressional authorization and indicated he may be open to supporting one.

“In this particular instance, I do support military reprisals and military attacks to deter attacking our ships, but [the Biden administration] shouldn’t be allowed to do that without permission,” Paul told Defense News.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, told Defense News in October he was drafting an authorization for the Biden administration to strike Iran-backed proxies in the Middle East amid the fighting between Israel and Hamas, though he has not introduced it.

Iran-backed militias have targeted U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria at least 151 times since Oct. 7, leading to retaliatory strikes from the Biden administration. The Senate voted in December to keep U.S. troops in Syria , rejecting 13-84 a Paul resolution that would have forced Biden to withdraw them.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

更正：此前报道错误地列出了托德·扬参议员所代表的州。他实际上是印第安纳州的参议员。

华盛顿——越来越多的两党议员质疑乔·拜登总统对也门胡塞武装发动袭击的法律授权。

周二，弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩与其他三位参议员联名致信拜登，就近期未经国会授权、针对也门胡塞武装目标的报复性打击行动的战略和法律依据向其施压。此前有报道称，为回应伊朗支持的胡塞武装在红海袭击商船的行为，白宫正准备发起一场可能持续数月的持久战。

凯恩告诉《防务新闻》：“目前国会并未授权美国对红海或也门的胡塞武装采取军事行动。这已经超越了一次性的自卫行动。一旦双方开始进行拉锯战，局势就会进一步升级。现在就需要国会采取行动。”

康涅狄格州民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲、犹他州共和党参议员迈克·李和印第安纳州共和党参议员托德·扬也签署了凯恩的信，质疑拜登根据 1973 年《战争权力法》所拥有的法律权力。

在拜登向国会提交的关于他 1 月 11 日在也门发动首次空袭的通知中，他援引宪法第二条赋予他的三军统帅权力，以保护美国公民、人员和资产。

参议员们在信中指出，“也可以认为，指挥军事行动保卫美国商船属于这项权力范围之内。”然而，“大多数途经红海的船只并非美国船只，这就引发了人们对这些权力行使范围的质疑。”

他们写道：“我们支持采取明智措施保护美国人员和资产，追究胡塞武装的责任，并阻止进一步袭击。我们还认为，国会在授权采取进攻性军事行动前必须认真审议。”

这些空袭并未阻止胡塞武装袭击红海船只，拜登政府此后又进行了七次空袭作为回应。拜登上周承认，这些空袭并未起到威慑作用，但他誓言空袭仍将继续。

当被问及白宫的法律授权时，国家安全委员会发言人告诉《防务新闻》：“我们不会猜测未来的打击或行动，因为胡塞武装随时可能停止对美国和商船的无差别和非法袭击。”

参议院外交关系委员会主席、马里兰州民主党参议员本·卡丁告诉《防务新闻》：“《战争权力法》的规定非常具体”，并指出如果也门空袭触发了该法，“那么他们就必须来找我们。”

该委员会的首席共和党成员、爱达荷州参议员詹姆斯·里施辩称，拜登对也门的打击行动已经在其宪法赋予的“保护美国公民和美国财产的权力”的涵盖范围内。

胡塞武装于10月开始向商船开火，要求以色列停止对加沙地带巴勒斯坦人的轰炸。此前，哈马斯于10月7日袭击了以色列人。12月，美国国防部联合英国和其他盟国发起“繁荣卫士行动”，旨在保护商业航道免受胡塞武装的袭击。

曾任美国国务院法律顾问、现任国际危机组织高级顾问的布莱恩·芬努凯恩质疑拜登未经国会授权对也门发动空袭的合法性。他告诉《防务新闻》，虽然“人们普遍认为”总统有权保护美军免受袭击，“但在这种情况下，总统可能将美军置于危险之中。”

“自10月19日以来，美国一直在红海地区与胡塞武装作战，”芬努凯恩说。“当时胡塞武装向以色列发射导弹和无人机，被美国海军卡尼号驱逐舰击落。”

2019年，国会通过一项决议，要求时任总统唐纳德·特朗普停止美国对沙特领导的联军在也门打击胡塞武装的军事行动的支持，并指出国会从未授权过这项行动。但特朗普否决了该决议。

根据武装冲突地点与事件数据项目（ACLED）的数据，沙特阿拉伯在2015年至2022年间发动的空袭行动造成近15000名平民死亡。本月美国空袭行动尚未造成平民伤亡的报告。

参议院联名信的两位签署人——墨菲和李——曾在特朗普执政期间牵头在参议院推动也门战争授权决议。至少有两位众议院议员，即2019年也门决议的发起人，分别是加州民主党众议员罗·卡纳和肯塔基州共和党众议员托马斯·马西，也批评拜登近期对也门的空袭未经国会授权。

墨菲告诉《防务新闻》，拜登政府“很可能”需要国会授权才能进行打击行动，但他表示，“对于我们是否应该授权有限地使用武力，将会有一个合理的辩论”。

墨菲说：“胡塞武装的所作所为直接关系到美国的利益。”

肯塔基州共和党参议员兰德·保罗通常批评外国军事干预，但他表示，对胡塞武装采取“持续军事行动”需要国会授权，并暗示他可能愿意支持此类行动。

保罗告诉《防务新闻》：“就此案而言，我支持采取军事报复和军事打击来阻止袭击我们船只的行为，但（拜登政府）不应该未经许可就这样做。”

众议院外交事务委员会主席、德克萨斯州共和党众议员迈克·麦考尔 (Mike McCaul) 10 月份告诉《防务新闻》，他正在起草一份授权拜登政府打击伊朗支持的中东代理人的法案，以应对以色列和哈马斯之间的冲突，但他尚未提出该法案。

自10月7日以来，伊朗支持的民兵组织至少151次袭击驻伊拉克和叙利亚的美军，导致拜登政府采取报复性打击行动。去年12月，参议院投票决定继续让美军留在叙利亚，以13票赞成、84票反对否决了保罗提出的、旨在迫使拜登撤军的决议。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。