Newly empowered Democrats could force president to use veto to continue unpopular war , Congress is expected to make an unprecedented challenge to Donald Trump’s authority to take the US into a war in the coming weeks, with a bipartisan measure calling for the end of US military involvement in the Yemen conflict. The Senate passed the measure, invoking the 1973 War Powers Resolution, last month but a parallel effort in the House of Representatives was sunk by the Republican leadership. Now the House is under Democratic control, there is a plan to put forward identical measures in both chambers, which would put a permanent end to US refuelling, logistical support, intelligence and special forces operations with the Saudi-led coalition. It would force Trump to accept the constraints on his executive power, or use his veto to continue an unpopular war, in support of an unpopular ally in Riyadh. It is unlikely his opponents could muster the two-thirds majorities in each house required to override the veto, but the standoff would highlight the deep divide between the president and Congress over Saudi relations, at a time when Yemen is on the brink of famine, and in the wake of the brutal murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Ro Khanna, the lead author of the proposed House resolution, said he had an undertaking from the new House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, that it would be put to a vote in the next six weeks, though that timing might be set back by the government shutdown. The resolution will be identical to a resolution passed by the Senate in December, by a 56 to 41 majority. Since there is a new Senate following November midterm elections, the measure – introduced by independent senator Bernie Sanders, Republican Mike Lee and Democrat Chris Murphy – would have to be reintroduced. But 51 senators who backed the resolution in December are still in their seats, as well as two new Democrats who are expected to back it. “We are waiting for the shutdown to end, but we are ready to move pretty quickly,” a Democratic Senate staffer said. If the ceasefire agreed last month for Hodeidah and other Yemeni ports holds and humanitarian aid is allowed to flow freely to the 22 million Yemenis in desperate need, and if the Saudi regime shows more transparency over the Khashoggi murder, the legislation could be held back. But its backers say the threat of its passing was enough to force concessions from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government delegation at ceasefire talks in Sweden. If passed, it will be the first time Congress has used a war powers resolution measure to limit the president’s power to take the country into a foreign conflict.   “One cannot underestimate the historic impact of the House and Senate passing this,” Khanna said in an interview with the Guardian. He said that the former defence secretary James Mattis advised the Saudis to make progress in the Stockholm talks to avoid “further embarrassment from Congress”. “We’ve heard from reports on the ground in Sweden that they’re carefully watching what Congress does,” he added. “I believe that both chambers of Congress acting would be such a statement to the world and to the Saudis and the coalition ... that they themselves will temper the military offensive and it may lead to a ceasefire. It may lead to the opening of ports and allowing humanitarian assistance. They don’t want to continue to jeopardize their relationship with the United States.” Khanna believes the Trump administration overplayed its hand over the Saudi monarchy’s role in Yemen and the Khashoggi murder. Mattis and the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, repeatedly assured Congress the Saudi military was making efforts to limit civilian casualties from coalition bombing. However, there was no reduction in the toll and coalition actions to isolate areas of the country run by Houthi rebels has brought Yemen to the brink of what the UN warns could be the worst famine in a generation. Since the murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi by Saudi operatives, Trump, Pompeo and Mattis played down the culpability of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a close Trump ally, in spite of a CIA assessment that he almost certainly ordered the murder. Administration briefings and attempts to prevent the CIA director, Gina Haspel, briefing Congress, angered members on both sides of the aisle. “It has made members of Congress more willing to assert their article 1 rights of having a role in foreign policy,” Khanna said. The first article of the US constitution formally gives Congress the sole authority to declare war, but that has been largely ignored by a succession of presidents from both parties. Khanna argues that the Trump administration will force the legislature to take its duties more seriously. “The overreach by the administration and the disregard for Congress has awakened Congress from our slumber,” he said. AFP.