2020 hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told voters in New Hampshire on Monday that he has been thinking more about foreign policy lately after receiving criticism for not focusing enough on the topic during his 2016 campaign.
“I think I am paying more attention to foreign policy,” Sanders said at a CNN town hall event. “I was rightfully criticized the last time around because I didn’t pay as much attention as I might.”
“Probably a few years ago I wouldn’t have been as involved as I recently have been,” he added.
While Sanders’ campaign platforms have widely centered around economic equality, the independent senator has recently become a major voice on foreign policy issues in the Senate.
Sanders on Monday called for the Senate to hold a vote on overriding President Trump’s veto to a resolution to pull U.S. military forces from the civil war in Yemen.
“The president’s action is a very serious challenge to congressional authority that demands a response,” Sanders said in a letter to his Senate colleagues.
Last week, Trump vetoed a resolution sponsored by Sanders that would have forced the president to withdraw U.S. military support from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s civil war.
The move marked the second veto of Trump’s presidency.
Sanders has also been a vocal critic of Israeli policy toward Palestinians, and on Monday took aim specifically at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was recently reelected to a record-fifth term.
“The goal must be to try to bring people together and not just support one country, which is now run by a right-wing, dare I say, racist government,” Sanders said at the town hall.
