Archiv: Jeff Merkley


26.09.2024 - 18:22 [ Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont ]

NEWS: Sanders and Colleagues Move to Block Arms Sales to Israel

The Senate will vote on these resolutions when it reconvenes in November. Let me explain why these arms sales must not proceed.

Israel clearly had the right to respond to Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on October 7th, which killed 1,200 innocent Israelis and took hundreds of hostages. But Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist government has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged all-out war against the Palestinian people, killing more than 41,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 95,000 – 60 percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. Netanyahu has bombed hospitals and schools, starved children, destroyed infrastructure and housing stock, and made life unlivable in Gaza. The United States must end its complicity in this atrocity.

Sending more weapons is not only immoral, it is also illegal. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act lay out clear requirements for the use of American weaponry – Israel has egregiously violated those rules.

26.09.2024 - 18:10 [ Common Dreams ]

Sanders Unveils Resolutions to Block US Arms Sales as Israel Rejects Cease-Fire Call

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a pair of his Senate colleagues on Wednesday formally introduced resolutions aimed at blocking a series of proposed arms sales to the Israeli government as it bombards Gaza and Lebanon, deepening humanitarian crises there and pushing the region to the brink of all-out war.

The six Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, five of which were backed by Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), would together prevent the sale of $20 billion of U.S. weaponry to Israel. The Biden administration approved the massive sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, tank ammunition, F-15 fighter jets, and other military equipment last month.

13.02.2024 - 19:10 [ Senator Jeff Merkley ]

Merkley: Netanyahu’s War Campaign Fails to Reflect American Values

“Here is the challenge: On the one hand, I strongly support aid to Ukraine. We need to sustain the supply of ammunition and weapons the Ukrainians need to stop the Russians. We must find a way to get this done.

“On the other hand, I strongly oppose sending more offensive military aid to Israel at a time when they are using American weapons in what President Biden has called an ‘indiscriminate’ campaign of bombing. I supported Israel going after Hamas following the horrific attack on October 7th. But the indiscriminate bombing and shelling that have killed 28,000 Palestinians and more than 18,000 women and children is unacceptable. Hamas is Israel’s enemy. Palestinian civilians are not the enemy.

“President Biden has repeatedly and urgently called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to adopt a much more targeted campaign against Hamas. Netanyahu has refused. President Biden has repeatedly and urgently called on Netanyahu to provide the dramatically expanded supply of food, water, medicine, and shelter needed to address the catastrophic humanitarian conditions generated by Israel’s campaign. Netanyahu has refused.

“The campaign conducted by the Netanyahu government is at odds with our American values and American law, which requires recipients of American assistance to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. While I have supported military aid to Israel in the past, and continue to support aid for defensive systems like Iron Dome and David’s Sling, I cannot vote to send more bombs and shells to Israel when they are using them in an indiscriminate manner against Palestinian civilians.

13.02.2024 - 18:52 [ IfNotNow / Twitter ]

The Senate just passed a package sending $14 billion in weapons funding to Israel and ending funding to UNRWA. Only three members of the Democratic caucus voted NO — @SenSanders, @SenJeffMerkley, and @SenPeterWelch.

Anyone who voted Yes is complicit in Israel‘s assault on Gaza.

09.07.2023 - 11:06 [ Patrick Leahy and Jeff Merkley / Washington Post ]

Here’s why supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions would be a terrible mistake

We voted for billions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine and strongly believe we must continue to help the Ukrainian people defend themselves against Russian aggression. But supplying Kyiv with cluster munitions would come at an unsupportable moral and political price. Knowing that these weapons cause indiscriminate terror and mayhem, both of us — like many others in the international community — have worked for years to end their use.

09.01.2020 - 06:41 [ theHill.com ]

Senators introduce resolution warning that Congress has not authorized Iran war

Senators on Wednesday introduced a resolution stressing that neither the 2001 nor 2002 authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) covers a potential war with Iran.

The resolution, spearheaded by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), comes after days of escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran in the wake of a U.S. airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran‘s top military general.

20.05.2018 - 15:57 [ Washington Post ]

As Senate plans war powers debate, one liberal Democrat seeks stronger constraints on White House

Merkley’s proposal, detailed to The Washington Post in advance of its release, has several key differences from the Corker-Kaine measure unveiled last month that helped break a deadlock in the debate over war powers on Capitol Hill.

One is that Merkley explicitly writes in a three-year time limit, or a “sunset,” until the war authorization expires and lawmakers are forced to revisit the issue.

20.05.2018 - 15:46 [ Kate Kizer / Twitter ]

Good on @SenJeffMerkley for offering alternative AUMF that actually puts Congress in driver‘s seat of determining when/where we go to war. After 17 yrs of failed global war, Congress must debate if there‘s military solution to war on terror (hint: nope!)