Scoop: House Democrat wants Houthis back on foreign terror list

Driving the news: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, "I strongly encourage you to consider relisting the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization."

• Torres argued that the "the relative stability and de-escalation of violence within Yemen since 2022 is hanging in the balance" as a result of the attack on Tel Aviv.
• Torres also said Biden and Blinken have "made it abundantly clear that the United States stands with Israel and its people" and that the strike puts the chances of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas "at risk."

Zoom out: Shortly after Biden took office in 2021, Blinken reversed a Trump administration decision to designate the Houthis as both an FTO and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.

• Blinken cited the designation's potentially "devastating impact on Yemenis' access to basic commodities like food and fuel."

• After repeated attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea since Oct. 7 in response to Israel's military operations in Gaza, Biden placed the Houthis back on the SDGP list but stopped short of re-designating them as an FTO.
• An FTO designation would allow the U.S. to place more stringent sanctions on the group.

Zoom in: In his letter, Torres asked Blinken what the administration's rationale is for not designating the Houthis as an FTO and what actions the administration plans to take to take in the region in response to the strike.

• The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.