Congress

Top Lawmakers Sign Off On Massive US Arms Sale To Israel

June 18, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Congress, Democrats, Israel, Joe Biden, Palestine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism, weapons, Weapons Sales

Two Democratic lawmakers in the US Congress have signed off on a massive arms sale to Israel, which will include $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets, the Washington Post reported on 17 June. Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Ben Cardin agreed to the deal after months of holding up the sale due to concerns over Israel’s conduct in its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. “Any issues or concerns that Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the administration, and that’s why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward,” Eric Harris, Communications Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Washington Post.

Why Does The Government Borrow When It Can Print?

June 18, 2024 Ellen Brown, Web Of Debt. Create! Budget Deficit, Congress, Finance and the Economy, Trillion Dollar Coin

In the first seven months of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, net interest (payments minus income) on the federal debt reached $514 billion, exceeding spending on both national defense ($498 billion) and Medicare ($465 billion). The interest tab also exceeded all the money spent on veterans, education, and transportation combined. Spending on interest is now the second largest line item in the federal budget after Social Security and the fastest growing part of the budget, on track to reach $870 billion by the end of 2024. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal budget deficit was $857 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2024.

America Prepares For Global War And Restarts The Draft For 18-26 Year Olds

June 14, 2024 Dennis Kucinich, Scheer Post. Educate! Congress, Democrats, Draft, NDAA, US Imperialism, US military, Wars and Militarism, Youth

Our government is planning a big draft, conscripting millions of young Americans for an even bigger war! I call to your attention a Democratic amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was slipped into the almost trillion-dollar Pentagon war spending bill, by voice vote, in the House Armed Services committee. This amendment is in the NDAA legislation and there is no pending amendment to strip it from the bill. So, when the NDAA passes, as early as this week, Congress will have taken steps to make automatic conscription the law of the land. Why an automatic draft? Members of Congress and the President have an obligation to explain to the American people to which foreign land will their sons, and perhaps their daughters, be sent to die?

US Lawmakers Block Funding For Gaza Reconstruction

June 13, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Congress, Gaza, International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel, Palestine, Reconstruction, Zionism

The US House of Representatives on 12 June approved an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that prevents the Pentagon from allocating any of its ballooning budget for reconstruction efforts in Gaza. “None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available to the Secretary of Defense for fiscal year 2025 may be made available to build in or rebuild the Gaza Strip on or after the date of the enactment of this Act,” the amendment reads. The provision was introduced by Republican lawmakers Brian Mast, Claudia Tenney, and Eli Crane. Although House Democrats opposed the amendment, they did not request a recorded vote and allowed it to pass by a simple voice vote.

United States Passes Controversial Bill To Sanction ICC

June 5, 2024 Middle East Monitor. Educate! Congress, International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel, Palestine, Sanctions

In a highly controversial move, the US House of Representatives has voted to pass a bill to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its staff. The bill comes as a response to the ICC’s efforts to prosecute Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza. The legislation, which passed yesterday with a vote of 247-155, has been seen by many as a clear demonstration of the unwavering support that Israel enjoys among the majority of US lawmakers across both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Netanyahu’s Upcoming Visit To D.C. Demonstrates Interconnection Of American And Israeli Politics

June 4, 2024 Talia Mullin, Scheer Post. Educate! Benjamin Netanyahu, Congress, Israel, Palestine, Washington D.C., Zionism

In a recent piece from the Israeli publication, Haaretz, titled “Inviting Netanyahu to D.C., Democratic Leaders Stabbed Israel’s Liberals in the Back,” Amir Tibon criticizes Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the U.S. congress in Washington while never having visited local areas impacted by the Oct. 7th attack and failing to prioritize, as well as actively denying, hostage deals. The invitation was initiated by Republican Speaker of the house, Mike Johnson, and co-signed by Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, and Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. Tibon writes: “Why Johnson would want to invite Netanyahu, in the midst of an American election year, is obviously clear:

Active Duty, Veterans And GI Rights Groups Launch Anti-Genocide Campaign

June 4, 2024 Veterans for Peace, Popular Resistance. Resist! Congress, Gaza, Genocide, US military, Veterans

As more members of the military and State Department resign over U.S. funding of the genocide in Gaza, a new campaign will be launched tomorrow to allow military personnel to directly contact their congressional representatives. Initiated by active-duty military members, veterans and G.I. rights groups, “Appeal for Redress v2,” is modeled after the 2006 Appeal for Redress conducted during the highly unpopular occupation of Iraq, to allow G.I.s to tell their representatives they are opposed to U.S. policy. Active duty service members are opposing U.S. funding of Israel’s genocide not only because it is immoral, but also because U.S. government employees violate several federal statutes every time weapons are shipped to Israel, as cited in this letter from Veterans For Peace to the U.S. State Department.

Kansas Newspaper That Faced Illegal Police Raid Backs Reporter’s Shield Law

June 2, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Educate! Congress, Journalists, Media, PRESS Act, Press Freedom

A newspaper in Kansas that was targeted in an illegal police raid endorsed legislation in the United States Senate that would establish a national reporter’s shield law. Eric Meyer, associate dean of the College of Media at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and publisher of the Marion County Record, declared, “As last summer’s raid on the Marion County Record proved, freedom of expression faces unprecedented challenges from unscrupulous people willing to weaponize the justice system to bully and retaliate against those attempting to report truth.” “Existing remedies might be fine for huge media organizations, but community journalists and people like the students I used to teach at the University of Illinois shouldn’t have their rights be dependent on whether they can afford to hire massive legal teams.”

Congress Trains Academia To Deny Genocide

May 31, 2024 Corinna Barnard, Consortium News. Educate! Congress, Gaza, Genocide, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Repression

“Do you think Israel’s government is genocidal?” That’s the question that Rep. Bob Good, a Republican of Virginia, fired at Jonathan Holloway, president of Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, last week in a U.S. House committee hearing. Holloway, a scholar of African American history who has been steadily climbing the ladder of administrative positions at top-tier schools, looked stunned. “Um sir, I don’t … have an opinion on Israel’s um …in terms of that phrase.” Good: “You do not have an opinion as to whether Israel’s government is genocidal?” Holloway: “Uh, no sir, I think Israel has a right to exist and protect itself.” Good: “Do you think Israel’s government is genocidal?” Holloway: “I think Israel has a right to exist and protect itself, sir.”

The ICC Takes On Israel And The US Congressional Mafia

May 29, 2024 Medea Benjamin, Popular Resistance. Resist! Biden administration, Congress, International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel, US Sanctions

Senator Lindsay Graham was bursting with contempt for the International Criminal Court (ICC) when he grilled Secretary of State Blinken at a May 21 Congressional hearing. Wagging his finger, he warned that, if the ICC gets away with issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, “we are next.” The audience at the hearing, stacked with CODEPINK pro-Palestine supporters, burst out in applause at the notion of the US being hauled before the world’s highest court. “You can clap all you want,” an angry Graham retorted, “but they tried to come after our soldiers in Afghanistan.”

Wanted By International Criminal Court, Netanyahu To Address Congress

May 26, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Benjamin Netanyahu, Congress, Crimes against humanity, France, Genocide, Germany, International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel, Palestine, The Hague, US Congress, War crimes

Mike Johnson, Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said on 23 May that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon address a joint meeting of the Congress. “Tonight, I’m happy to announce ... we will soon be hosting Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Capitol for a joint session of Congress,” Johnson said during a speech at an Israeli embassy event. Johnson said during the speech that Netanyahu’s upcoming address will be “a strong show of support for the Israeli government in their time of greatest need.” The announcement comes as officials from the administration of US President Joe Biden have made increasingly critical comments on Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

DeJoy Agrees To Pause Consolidations At Dozens Of USPS Facilities

May 18, 2024 Eric Katz, Government Executive. Educate! Biden administration, Congress, Louis DeJoy, US Postal Service, USPS, Worker Rights

The U.S. Postal Service is pausing some of the most controversial reforms to its mailing network as its leadership has agreed to the demands of a growing, bipartisan chorus in Congress. The mailing agency has halted its plans to consolidate dozens of processing facilities until at least Jan. 1, 2025, ensuring the network overhaul is paused until after the upcoming presidential election in which millions of Americans will be voting by mail. A large swath of lawmakers across the ideological spectrum have called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to delay or cease the changes, some of which would shift the bulk of mail processing across state lines.

Take Action: End The Economic War On Nicaragua!

May 17, 2024 Jill Clark-Gollub, Popular Resistance. Resist!, Slider Congress, International Solidarity, Israel, Nicaragua, Retaliation, Sanctions

S.1881, a bill to place more sanctions on Nicaragua, had not advanced since it was filed in June of 2023, until it was suddenly passed out of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on April 16—one week after Nicaragua argued in the International Court of Justice in defense of the Palestinian people suffering a genocide. The bill may now be voted on by the full Senate any day. Nicaragua and Palestine solidarity activists responded with an emergency protest two days later and then published a petition that quickly garnered over 2,000 signatures. Today they rallied and personally delivered the petition to a group of senators.

US Senators Play Schoolyard Bully Against International Criminal Court

May 9, 2024 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Accountability, Congress, International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel, US Hegemony, War crimes

Despite the fact that the United States is not a member nation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), that organization has been under its sway from its inception. The ICC has only prosecuted Africans and a few Serbians who were accused of war crimes during the NATO-engineered breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The ICC has never issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s many documented war crimes. After Israeli officials publicly expressed concern that the ICC might issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking Israeli officials, U.S. pressure began in earnest. Recently a letter to the ICC signed by twelve republican senators was made public.

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