Archiv: US Kongress (Legislative) / US Congress (legislative branch)


07:12 [ Congress of the United States of America ]

S.2557 – Epstein Files Transparency Act

(3) DECLASSIFICATION TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall declassify, to the maximum extent possible, any information that the Attorney General would otherwise withhold or redact as classified information under this section.

(B) UNCLASSIFIED SUMMARY.—If the Attorney General determines that information described in subparagraph (A) may not be declassified and made available in a manner that protects the national security of the United States, including methods or sources related to national security, the Attorney General shall make publicly available an unclassified summary of the information.

06:50 [ CNN ]

DOJ withheld more Epstein files in first batch than law requires

In a letter to Congress Friday describing the release, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the Justice Department believes it can black out information, even when it falls outside of the legally mandated redactions for protecting victims, showing gruesome injury or abuse, exposing personal information, or jeopardizing ongoing investigations and national security.

18.12.2025 - 04:44 [ U.S. Representative Jim McGovern ]

House Rejects McGovern’s Bipartisan War Powers Resolution, Shamefully Surrendering More Power to the White House

WASHINGTON—Today, House Republicans (and sadly, one spineless Democrat) shamefully rejected Congressman McGovern‘s War Powers Resolution, which would have directed President Trump to cease all hostilities within or against Venezuela.

“I’m furious that cowardly lawmakers have once again surrendered Congress’ Constitutional responsibility on matters of war to a wannabe dictator in the White House,” said Ranking Member McGovern. “The Founders intentionally did not want any president to have unilateral power to start a war, much less one like Donald Trump, who campaigned on ending unnecessary foreign conflicts. He‘s now breaking that promise—and his weak, pathetic lackeys in Congress are letting him drag us into yet another endless war that no one except their billionaire buddies in Big Oil want.”

18.12.2025 - 02:36 [ Shafaq.com ]

Iraq welcomes US vote to repeal war authorizations

The ministry added that the move “sends a clear signal to the international community that Iraq has become a secure and attractive destination for investment.”

On counterterrorism, the ministry stressed that the repeal does not weaken ongoing efforts, noting that the 2001 authorization—enacted after the September 11 attacks to confront al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups—remains in force.

18.12.2025 - 02:32 [ Anadolu ]

Iraq welcomes US Congress vote to repeal war authorizations

Iraq on Wednesday welcomed a US Congress vote to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Baghdad, included within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2026.

The Foreign Ministry said it views “with great pleasure” the vote by the House of Representatives and the Senate, noting that the repeal awaits ratification by President Donald Trump.

18.12.2025 - 02:16 [ NPR.org ]

Senate passes $901 billion defense bill that pushes Hegseth for boat strike video

But overall, the bill represents a compromise between the parties. It implements many of Trump‘s executive orders and proposals on eliminating diversity and inclusion efforts in the military and grants emergency military powers at the U.S. border with Mexico. It also enhances congressional oversight of the Department of Defense, repeals several years-old war authorizations and seeks to overhaul how the Pentagon purchases weapons as the U.S. tries to outpace China in developing the next generation of military technology.

18.12.2025 - 02:13 [ Reuters ]

Sweeping US defense bill passes, with Ukraine, Venezuela provisions defying Trump

And it has a provision to withhold a chunk of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s travel budget if he does not provide Congress with unedited videos of military strikes on boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The Trump administration has said the strikes are directed at Venezuelan drug-traffickers.

The Senate vote came a day after Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, his latest move to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro‘s government.

It repeals the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) against Iraq, an attempt to reassert Congress‘ role in deciding to send troops into combat.

17.12.2025 - 04:35 [ ABC News ]

Hegseth says Pentagon won’t release video of strike on drug boat survivors to public

At issue is whether the Sept. 2 military strike on the alleged drug boat amounted to a war crime, as some lawmakers have suggested. Officials have confirmed there were four military strikes against the boat — the first strike killing nine of the 11 people aboard. Some 40 minutes later, a second strike was ordered to kill the remaining two survivors. Two more strikes were ordered to sink the boat, officials say.

Trump initially said he would release the video, telling reporters on Dec. 3 “whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem.” Trump later backtracked, saying he would defer to Hegseth.

17.12.2025 - 03:13 [ Antiwar.com ]

House To Vote This Week on Bill To Block Trump From Launching a War With Venezuela

(December 15, 2025)

The House is expected to vote on Thursday on a bipartisan War Powers Resolution aimed at blocking President Trump from launching an attack on Venezuela amid a major US military buildup in the Caribbean and threats of a regime change war to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

15.12.2025 - 00:21 [ APNews.com ]

Zelenskyy offers to drop NATO bid for security guarantees but rejects US push to cede territory

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war.

Zelenskyy sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

15.12.2025 - 00:20 [ Kyiv Independent ]

US hails ‚progress made‘ in peace talks with Zelensky, set to continue in Berlin on Dec. 15

In a readout provided by Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy said that a „lot of progress was made“ during the meeting, without providing details.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Zelensky signaled that Ukraine seeks NATO-like security guarantees as part of a peace deal to prevent future Russian aggression, as full membership is opposed by the U.S. and other partners.

Ahead of the meeting, Axios reported, citing a senior U.S. official, that the Trump administration may be willing to provide Congress-approved NATO-like security guarantees.

11.12.2025 - 22:18 [ MSN.com ]

Opinion: Rand Paul demands vote on war in Venezuela: ‚I‘m old-fashioned‘

“I’m reminded of what my mother would tell me when I was a kid, ‘Ten wrongs don’t make a right,’ so the fact that 10 presidents have done it doesn’t make it right. Our Founding Fathers were united to a person — all those who signed, all those who debated over the Constitution, the Federalist Papers — were unanimous that Congress should declare war, no president should on his own. Now we have disobeyed that, but we do have the ability, if Congress rose up in a clear two-thirds majority and said ‘no,’ we could overturn any veto.”

11.12.2025 - 09:13 [ theHill.com ]

Lawmakers react to US seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker

Last week, Paul and Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Adam Schiff (Ca.) and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) filed a war powers resolution to prevent the administration from engaging Venezuela in conflict without congressional approval.

The Kentucky Republican reiterated he and his colleagues’ push on Wednesday, saying that “if you want war, the president should come to Congress, like the Constitution dictates, and he should ask Congress for a declaration of war.

“That’s what should be going on right now.”

10.12.2025 - 07:33 [ ABC News ]

Admiral ousted by Hegseth talks privately to lawmakers

(December 9, 2025)

Adm. Alvin Holsey, who was pushed out of his post as the top U.S. military commander overseeing operations in Latin America, spoke privately with several lawmakers on Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the meeting — an indication that Congress is quietly pursuing a bipartisan inquiry into the Sept. 2 boat strike in the Caribbean Sea.
(…)
Also on Tuesday, House and Senate leaders known as the „Gang of Eight“ are hearing separately from President Donald Trump‘s national security team: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

10.12.2025 - 07:19 [ KomoNews.com ]

Hegseth won‘t commit to letting Congress see video of deadly boat strike, Schumer says

WASHINGTON (TND) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth would not commit to showing all members of Congress the full video of a deadly double strike on an alleged drug boat on September 2.

He shared the news after he attended a closed-door meeting with Hegseth, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as fellow top lawmakers known as the „Gang of Eight“ on Tuesday afternoon.

03.12.2025 - 18:23 [ Elissa Slotkin, U.S. Senator for Michigan ]

WATCH: Slotkin Highlights 2016 Video, Hegesth says U.S. troops will not follow unlawful orders from the President

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) shared a 2016 video, first reported in CNN, where Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told an audience that the U.S. military “won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief.” Words remarkably similar to Slotkin’s in a video she posted recently where she simply restated the law.

Major Pete Hegseth, in 2016 said:

“If you are doing something that is completely unlawful and ruthless then there is a consequence for that. That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief. There’s a standard; there’s an ethos; there’s a belief that we are above so many things are enemies or others would do.”

03.12.2025 - 17:05 [ Newsweek ]

Donald Trump Faces Growing Republican Backlash Over Foreign Policy Moves

Some conservative and libertarian-minded Republicans have broken with Trump over his approach to Venezuela. Many Republicans have embraced an “America First” view of foreign policy and oppose regime change in other countries if they do not believe it benefits Americans.

(…)

Trump’s proposal for a peace deal on the Russia-Ukraine war has also drawn scrutiny. Critics have raised concerns that the deal may be too favorable to Russia, pointing to proposals that Ukraine would give up the eastern Donbas region and shrink its army to end a war started by Russia more than three years ago.

02.12.2025 - 19:16 [ Time Magazine ]

Boat Strike Revelations Draw Bipartisan Outrage, Spurring Push for Hearings as Soon as ‘Next Week’

Lawmakers from both parties were raising the term “war crime” on Monday, as pressure mounts on the Trump Administration to release military video evidence and explain the legal basis for its escalating campaign in the Caribbean.

In the Senate, the calls for oversight were coalescing around Senator Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has already directed an inquiry to the Pentagon and pledged “vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.” Several Senate Democrats told TIME on Monday that they have confidence in Wicker leading the investigation into the strike, but urged him to move quickly.

01.12.2025 - 07:13 [ NPR.org ]

Congress steps in as questions mount over who authorized a second strike at sea

PARKS: How big of a deal are these congressional investigations?

GARRETT: So legally, Congress does have real powerful levers and tools at their disposal. You know, they can call hearings. They can ask for documents, and even, you know, they have the subpoena power. But we‘ll have to wait and see how aggressive these inquiries are.

01.12.2025 - 07:10 [ New York Times ]

Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime

“Obviously if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” Representative Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio and a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said on CBS that if the report was accurate, the attack “rises to the level of a war crime.” And on CNN, when asked if he believed a second strike to kill survivors constituted a war crime, Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, answered, “It seems to.”

30.11.2025 - 08:29 [ theHill.com ]

Gallego warns of ‘consequences’ to military for ‘going after sitting members of Congress’

(November 25, 2025)

“Because they know that Donald Trump will be gone and they will not have that protection,” he added. “They’re going to have to do the safest thing possible, which is follow the Constitution of the United States, and you’ll be fine.”

Gallego then looked directly into the camera and gave a message to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. On Monday, Hegseth said the Pentagon would conduct a “thorough review” of allegations against Kelly, who first heard of the investigation in Hegseth’s post on the social platform X.

“You will never, ever, ever even be half the man that Sen. Kelly is,” Gallego told Hegseth. “You, sir, are a coward. And the fact that you are following this order from the president shows how big of a coward you are. And I can’t wait till you no longer are the secretary of Defense.”

26.11.2025 - 13:44 [ NPR.org ]

Sen. Mark Kelly: Trump and Hegseth don‘t ‚understand the Constitution‘

On Monday, the Pentagon announced an investigation into Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy fighter pilot, for possible violations of military law for appearing in the video. The video was published as legal questions swirl around the Trump administration‘s deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities.

While the White House has since walked back the president‘s remarks calling the Senators‘ video „seditious behavior, punishable by DEATH,“ Kelly told All Things Considered he thinks President Trump is „declaring that loyalty to the Constitution is punishable by death.“

26.11.2025 - 13:19 [ U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan ]

My Statement on FBI Request for Interviews

President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress.

Yesterday, the FBI contacted the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms requesting interviews. No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.

We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.

26.11.2025 - 13:03 [ Congressman Chris Deluzio / X ]

President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress.

Yesterday, the FBI contacted the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms requesting interviews.

No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.

We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.

26.11.2025 - 12:54 [ Fox News ]

FBI scheduling interviews with 6 lawmakers who encouraged military members to refuse ‚illegal orders‘

On Monday, the Department of War announced that it has opened a formal review into allegations of misconduct against Kelly over the video.

The Pentagon said it may even call Kelly, a retired Navy captain, back to active duty to face court-martial proceedings or other administrative actions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Four of the other Democrats are former military, but not retired and therefore are not subject to the UCMJ, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Slotkin is a former CIA officer.

24.11.2025 - 20:04 [ Sen. Elissa Slotkin / X ]

We want to speak directly to members of the Military and the Intelligence Community. The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution. Don’t give up the ship.

(November 18, 2025)

24.11.2025 - 20:02 [ CNN ]

Pentagon threatens to recall Sen. Mark Kelly to military service for court martial over illegal orders video

The investigation comes as President Donald Trump has been pushing relentlessly for consequences for Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers over a video they made reminding servicemembers of their duty to disobey illegal orders, calling their actions “seditious” and “treason.”

Because Kelly was a senior officer who retired from the Navy, he is required to remain available for recall to the military by law. The other five lawmakers, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Rep. Jason Crow, Rep. Maggie Goodlander, Rep. Chris Deluzio and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, are not eligible for recall to a military service.

21.11.2025 - 10:18 [ U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan ]

Joint Statement from Lawmakers Slotkin, Kelly, Crow, Deluzio, Goodlander, and Houlahan

(November 20, 2025)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Representatives Jason Crow (D-CO-06), Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06) released the following joint statement:

“We are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation.“

“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.“

“But this isn’t about any one of us. This isn’t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.“

“In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated.“

“Don’t Give Up the Ship!”

21.11.2025 - 09:43 [ Sen. Elissa Slotkin / Youtube ]

President Trump threatened me and a group lawmakers. Here‘s my response.

(14 hours ago)

Earlier this morning, President Trump threatened me and a group of service and veteran Members of Congress with arrest, trial, and death by hanging.

Here’s my response.

21.11.2025 - 09:28 [ PBS.org ]

Trump says Democrats’ video message to military is ‘seditious behavior’ punishable by death

(November 20, 2025)

President Donald Trump on Thursday accused half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” after the lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — called on U.S. military members to uphold the constitution and defy “illegal orders.”

The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s X account. In it, the six lawmakers — Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan — speak directly to U.S. service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are “under enormous stress and pressure right now.”