The United States Senate failed last Thursday to gain the two-thirds majority vote necessary to reverse President Donald Trump’s veto on a bipartisan bill that would end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia in their role in Yemen’s civil war. The override failed with a 53-45 vote, with seven Republicans joining Democrats to pass it.

Yemen’s civil war began in March 2015 when Houthi rebels overthrew the government. Almost immediately after the coup, Saudi Arabia came to the government’s aid while the rebels gained support from Iran. The civil war has been described as an extension of the Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, which has been ongoing since the late 1970’s.

Over 60,000 people have been killed while, according to the United Nations, an estimated 13 million civilians face famine in what could be “the worst famine in the world in 100 years.”

The vetoed bill, originally passed with a 247 to 175 vote in the House, invoked the War Powers Resolution for the first time in history. The resolution reasserts Congress’s power over U.S. military participation in wars abroad.

Congress must come together in a bipartisan resolution to end US involvement in any international war because it is not only a federal law to gain their approval before entering war, but it is morally necessary in this instance.

Photos of malnourished children and bombed cities have all appeared in the news, yet our government remains supportive of the very force causing such destruction. In the four years the war has raged, no progress towards a solution has been made, yet more civilizations lay victim to war or starvation.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are using Yemen as a battleground for their egos, and the biggest casualties of that competition are the innocent people of Yemen.

Right now, Yemen is weak and terrorist groups are taking advantage of that vulnerability to infiltrate communities who are already suffering by the hands of foreign and domestic governmental groups.

This is the second veto issued by Trump as he called the passing of the bill “an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities” and would “endanger the lives of American citizens and brave service members.”

I’m curious as to how enforcing a federal law will endanger the lives of American citizens. If the law endangered American lives, the law would not have been passed in the 1970’s.

What our government and president should be concerned with are the Yemeni lives being gravely affected by their actions. The selfish attitudes of American politicians prove harmful to our global society consistently and Yemen’s civil war has become another example of that.

Congress needs to regain control of their power to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia. A bipartisan effort to do so has already occurred and can occur again. In a time where our country has never been more divided politically, I think the very least our politicians can do is come together to show humility and empathy towards people other than themselves.