Our district’s U.S. Representative Val Hoyle has announced she is cosponsoring the Block the Bombs Act, or H.R. 3565. It’s an effort to end offensive weapons sales to Israel, unless explicit conditions are met.
The Act would prohibit the President from selling, transferring, or exporting certain classes of weapons to Israel, expect for in certain circumstances. Those weapons include:
- Bunker busting bombs (BLU-109)
- Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) assemblies
- 155mm artillery ammunition
The bill only allows these munitions to be sold, transferred, or exported if Congress passes a law specifying how these munitions may be used, and Israel provides the United States with written assurances that the munitions will only be used in a manner consistent with those regulations and other laws, including international human rights laws.
What Hoyle is saying
“The humanitarian crisis, famine, and ethnic cleansing of Gaza is a policy choice by the Israeli government that we are complicit in. Something must change. The Block the Bombs Act reflects a simple principle: any country receiving U.S. weapons or military aid must use them in accordance with U.S. and international law.”
“Just as I will not defend Hamas’s actions or its ideology in anyway, I cannot support the policy choice to starve and ethnically cleanse a civilian population to get a terrorist group to comply. The pathway to peace cannot involve endless violence, and all hostages must be released. I am still committed to a two-state solution, but that cannot happen if there is no population left to live in Palestine.”
“Until we can verify that Israel has changed course, I will not support any further offensive weaponry to enable Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza.”
The full text of the bill can be found here.
Wyden Scores Victory for C-SPAN Junkies
Oregon’s U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has announced that YouTube TV and Hulu will carry C-SPAN. He readily admits to pressuring them to do that, and he was joined by other members too. The way Wyden sees it, C-SPAN offers public access to unfiltered news about government actions.
“I’m glad YouTube and Hulu decided to do the right thing and support C-SPAN, one of the most reliable and non-partisan sources of information about what the government is up to. C-SPAN is a refreshing antidote to the poisonous partisanship that has come to dominate much of the news,” Wyden said. “I urge more media companies to support greater news literacy and access to the government, to inform the public and strengthen our democracy.”
Wyden and Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., were the first members of Congress to press YouTube and Hulu to carry C-SPAN, writing to their CEOs in January that the cable channel represents a valuable, unfiltered window into the workings of government. They continued to press the streaming services for months to take up a commitment made by cable channels to support public interest programming.
Their bipartisan letter to the streaming service companies noted that C-SPAN has been a part of packages sold by cable and satellite providers for more than 40 years yet major live TV streaming services failed to carry C-SPAN as they entered the market.
Founded in the 1970s, C-SPAN is organized as a nonprofit entity. Through the years, it has delivered gavel-to-gavel coverage of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. No government or taxpayer dollars support the network, which is primarily funded by the nation’s cable and satellite companies.
Our take
We’re just going to admit it, there are C-SPAN junkies among this newspaper’s reporter ranks. They are now scurrying for details as we speak. Looks like Hulu and YouTube will be getting some new customers out of this.
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