Senior United States Senator Bernie Sanders demands Congress to override President Donald Trump's Yemen resolution veto

US Senator Bernie Sanders participates in a FOX News Town Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on April 15, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Senior United States Senator Bernie Sanders has demanded that Congress overrides President Donald Trump's veto against a congressional resolution that would withdraw US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

“The president’s action is a very serious challenge to congressional authority that demands a response,” Sanders wrote in a letter to fellow senators on Monday.

Sanders's letter comes a week after Trump vetoed the resolution, describing the bill as an "unnecessary," and "dangerous attempt" to weaken his constitutional authorities.The president also claimed that the attempt by Congress would endanger the lives of American citizens and troops.

The legislation was originally introduced in the Senate and co-sponsored by Sanders, invoking the War Powers resolution, a federal law that gives Congress the power to check the American head of state when committing the country to an armed conflict.

Backers of the resolution argued that US involvement in Yemen violated the constitutional requirement that Congress, not the president, should determine when the country goes to war.

Consequently, Sanders said in his letter on Monday that the passage of the resolution was “long overdue” in reasserting the legislative branch's constitutional authority to declare war.

“The Congress must now act to protect that constitutional responsibility by overriding the president’s veto,” he wrote.

Sanders added that senators who oppose the Yemen resolution should address the matter in the Senate, arguing that overriding Trump's veto was a matter of protecting congressional rights and an objective all senators should support.

“At the end of the day, however, let us agree that it is imperative that Congress reaffirm the power given to us by the Constitution over matters of war,” Sanders continued, “one of the most serious duties we have as members of Congress.”

Washington's support for Riyadh's onslaught on Yemen has faced increased scrutiny in Congress ever since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the former Saudi-sponsored government back to power.

Last week, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization tracking casualties in Yemen, announced that the death toll from the Saudi-led war has surpassed 70,000 deaths, with more than 10,000 being killed in the five last months alone.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.

The UN has warned that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the worst global famine in more than 100 years.