129 House Republicans vote to condemn Trump's abandonment of Kurds

The House of Representatives voted 354-60 on Wednesday to adopt a resolution opposing Donald Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish allies in northeast Syria.

H.J. Res. 77, authored by Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-NY) and co-sponsored by the committee’s ranking Republican member, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, was not subtle in its criticism of Trump.

It specifically noted that Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which fought alongside the United States in the battle against ISIS, came just hours after Trump’s Oct. 6 phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which Trump mentioned the “upcoming Turkish incursion” and observed that the “abrupt withdrawal of United States military personnel from certain parts of Northeast Syria is beneficial to adversaries of the United States government, including Syria, Iran, and Russia.”

[media-credit name=”House video feed screenshot” align=”alignnone” width=”515″][/media-credit]

While congressional Republicans have typically been hesitant to oppose Trump in any way, this move was beyond the pale for many. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), previously a reliable Trump supporter and honorary Illinois co-chairman for his reelection campaign, withdrew his support for Trump last week and spoke out in favor of the resolution on Wednesday.

“It’s great to see the legislative branch take a stand…” he told his colleagues. “It’s unfortunate. I don’t know how we get the genie back in the bottle but I’m glad we’re getting a chance to make a statement from Article I of the Constitution, the legislative branch, that we think this policy has been wrong and failed and we do it in a strong, bipartisan manner.”

In total, 129 Republicans (more than two-thirds of the GOP members casting a vote) joined all 225 present Democrats in voting for the resolution. Just 60 voted with Trump.

Three Republicans and independent Rep. Justin Amash (MI) voted “present,” effectively abstaining.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.