President Biden’s Misguided Policy toward the Houthis Hurts Americans

D uring his 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised a “return to normalcy” from what he claimed to be chaos and economic hardship under the Trump administration. Far from normalcy, however, President Biden and his advisers ushered in an unprecedented period of global unrest, reducing America’s credibility abroad and increasing the prices of everyday household goods at home. To see this in action, look no further than the Biden administration’s policies toward the Houthis, the Iranian-backed terrorist group that is wreaking havoc in the Red Sea.

Two weeks into his presidency, President Biden removed the Houthis from the foreign terrorist organization list. That single action lifted most of the U.S. restrictions preventing them from receiving international financing, weapons, and support. President Biden also ended lethal support to the Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates–led anti-terrorism operation against the Houthis because of concerns that it was creating a humanitarian crisis for Yemen’s civilian population. The president reportedly hoped these concessions would lead the Houthis to enter into negotiations and eventually lay down their arms. Instead, the Houthis have gained control over most of Yemen’s major population centers, launched attacks on Abu Dhabi, and continued to terrorize civilians.

It may be hard to see how this matters to Americans. For some, pulling back from conflict in the Middle East seems like good news. But as with the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Biden’s policies toward the Houthis have made life for Americans less safe and less prosperous and have necessitated more, not less, American intervention overseas.

The reason for this is that, since announcing their membership in the Iranian-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel after October 7, 2023, the Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and dozens more against American military assets in the region. This month, Houthi missile strikes have caused the crews of two container vessels to abandon ship, while earlier this year, two American Navy SEALs lost their lives in an operation to stop Iran from providing the Houthis with more weapons.

The Houthis’ concerted attack on global container trade, 30 percent of which passes through their strike zones, has already impacted the American economy. Shipping costs from China to ports on the West Coast are now up 235 percent compared with December 2023. The increase is much higher for routes that previously went through the Red Sea, such as China-to-Europe sea-lanes, but regardless, the radical reworking of global supply chains is having a direct impact on Americans. According to one expert, “there appears to be no resolution in sight, with Suez transits showing no recovery.” And we can expect things to only get worse, especially when the Houthis begin charging fees for safe passage.

You might think President Biden would respond by returning to proven policies that kept the Houthis in check under his predecessor: targeted assistance to allies’ counterterrorism operations, maximum pressure on Iran, and clear redlines related to the deaths of Americans. My Republican colleagues and I have been calling for these policies in the Senate for years.

Unfortunately, President Biden has chosen the path of too little, too late. Rather than redesignate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, he has designated them by a much weaker label: “specially designated global terrorist organization.” Moreover, instead of authorizing strikes against Houthis leaders and weapons depots, the president has approved strikes only on reportedly empty warehouses and “drone launching sites,” which are essentially empty plots of land. This White House also refuses to arm allies who are eager and motivated to fight the Houthis for us, preferring to deploy American naval ships to the Red Sea, even though those ships are needed elsewhere.

President Biden says his policies are designed to avoid “escalation” of the conflict. But they are having the opposite effect. When our country’s enemies go unpunished for attacking Americans and paralyzing the global economy, we are inviting them to continue their reckless, unchecked aggression to see what else they can get away with. Until President Biden corrects course and imposes a meaningful cost on the Houthis, we should expect prices to continue to rise and yet more American lives to be put at risk.