A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to President Biden on Tuesday questioning what legal authority the commander in chief has to authorize strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The senators condemned Houthi attacks on commercial shipping and acknowledged the U.S. can carry out defensive strikes to protect its troops and assets under Article 2 of the Constitution — but raised questions about the authority to strike the Houthis when the rebels are mainly targeting international ships and not American ones.
“There is no current congressional authorization for offensive U.S. military action against the Houthis,” the senators wrote. “While the Houthis and their backers, namely Iran, bear the responsibility for escalation, unless there is a need to repel a sudden attack the Constitution requires that the United States not engage in military action absent a favorable vote of Congress.”
The letter was signed by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).
The repeated strikes on Yemen also spurred concerns in the House, where progressive lawmakers such as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and more conservative lawmakers such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have questioned Biden’s authority.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby defended the commander in chief’s authority earlier this month after the first strike Jan. 11.
“We’re very comfortable and confident in the legal authorities that the president exercised to conduct these strikes,” Kirby told reporters.
Other lawmakers have defended Biden’s decision to launch strikes against the Houthis.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the strikes were constitutional and authorized under the 1973 War Powers Act.
“The president often takes action like this,” Moulton told NewsNation’s “The Hill” earlier this month. “He has 48 hours to notify Congress, and he has to cease the activity after 60 days before coming to Congress for permission to continue it.”
The Iranian-backed Houthis have attacked merchant ships in the Red Sea more than 30 times since late November, with the rebel militia group claiming they are targeting Israel-based ships or ships headed to Israel in retaliation for the war in Gaza.
The U.S. first launched the strikes with the U.K. and has continued hammering Houthi sites in Yemen to weaken their ability to carry out the attacks. But the Houthis have not backed down, raising the possibility of a long conflict.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday the U.S. has destroyed 25 Houthi missile launch and deployment facilities and more than 20 missiles since the strikes began Jan. 11.
Ryder added in the press briefing that the U.S. strikes have created a “a degradation of capability” for the Houthis to continue the Red Sea hostilities.
‘It’s fairly significant,” he said of the damage to the Houthis, but he acknowledged they retain capabilities. “It’s not out of the question that there could be additional strikes. But again, our goal here is to ensure that the Red Sea is safe and secure for international shipping and mariners. That is our only goal.”
In the letter this week, the senators asked Biden to explain his interpretation of self-defense and if there is a legal authority to defend ships of foreign nations with the strikes, raising concerns about the Red Sea conflict dragging the U.S. into another war without congressional approval.
“We ask these questions with a sense of urgency, and further encourage the development of a strategy that urgently reduces the risk of escalation of this crisis in the Red Sea,” the senators wrote.
“As tensions in the region rise, we believe that American participation in another war in the Middle East cannot happen in the absence of authorization by Congress, following an open debate during which the American public can be informed of the benefits, risks, and consequences of such conflict.”