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chris van hollen
Senate—Again—Rejects Sanders' Effort to Block US Arms to Israel
"Senators had the opportunity to vote against U.S. complicity in this suffering," said one expert. "Instead, they made a choice to continue U.S. support for a bombing campaign that has made Gaza unlivable."
Apr 03, 2025
As he did during the Biden administration, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday forced votes on resolutions that would block some U.S. arms sales to Israel as it wages a devastating war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip—and as they did last November, the vast majority of his Senate colleagues from both major political parties blocked the bills.
"We're witnessing a U.S.-funded genocide, paid for by the billions with our tax dollars," Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action, said in a statement after most senators opposed the joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs) that would have prevented the transfer of $8.8 billion more in weapons.
"U.S. military funding for Israel's war crimes is not in the interests of the American people, and yet our representatives today voted to continue aiding and abetting human rights violations of the Palestinian people," Abuznaid added. "The continued failure to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes—and to instead continue providing bombs for its siege—violates human rights and international law."
Just 14 Democrats joined Sanders (I-Vt.) in voting for S. J. Res. 33 and S.J. Res. 26: Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Tim Kaine (Va.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Tina Smith (Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Peter Welch (Vt.).
For both JRDs, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) voted present, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) did not vote. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) did not vote for the first one and opposed the second. The remaining Democrats and all Republicans opposed the measures. The final tallies are slightly lower than the numbers from the trio of resolutions late last year.
"It is American bombs and American military equipment being used to destroy Gaza, kill 50,000 people, injure over 110,000 people. We cannot hide from that reality."
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Sanders took aim at the country's "corrupt" campaign finance system that stems from the U.S. Supreme Court's "disastrous" Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision in 2010. He noted that "if you are a Republican and you vote against the Trump-Musk administration in one way or another, you have got to look over your shoulder and worry that you're gonna get a call from Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world."
"If you are a Democrat, you have to worry about the billionaires who fund AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee," he explained. "If you vote against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his horrific war in Gaza, AIPAC will punish you with millions of dollars in advertisements and in other ways to see that you are defeated. AIPAC's [political action committee] and super PAC spent nearly $127 million combined during the 2023-2024 election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission."
"And I must confess that AIPAC has been successful. Last year, they defeated two members of the U.S. House who opposed providing military aid to Netanyahu's extremist government," he acknowledged, advocating for election reforms "so that we can once again become a government of the people, by the people, for the people—and not a government run by the billionaire class."
Standing before large images of bombed buildings and starving children, Sanders also laid out the necessity of his JRDs, highlighting that since the deadly October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, "Prime Minister Netanyahu's racist and extremist government has waged an all-out barbaric war against the Palestinian people and made life unlivable in Gaza."
As of Thursday, the Gaza Health Ministry put the total death toll at 50,523, with at least 114,776 wounded and thousands missing. Over 1,160 deaths and 2,700 injuries have occurred since Israel abandoned a fragile cease-fire in mid-March. Putting the war's totals into perspective, Sanders noted that it would be the equivalent of roughly 25 million Americans being killed or wounded.
The senator also emphasized Israel's destruction of Gaza's civilian infrastructure, from homes and hospitals to schools, and its restrictions on humanitarian aid throughout the war. He noted that "today, it is 31 days and counting with absolutely NO humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. Nothing. No food, no water, no medicine, no fuel, for over a month. That is as clear a violation of the Geneva Convention, the Foreign Assistance Act, and basic human decency. It is a war crime."
"You don't starve children. And it is pushing things toward an even deeper catastrophe," he continued. "And what makes it even worse, why I am here today, and why I have introduced these resolutions that we will soon be voting on, is that we, as Americans, are deeply complicit in what is happening in Gaza... We are deeply complicit in all of this death and suffering."
Sanders stressed that "last year alone, the United States provided $18 billion in military aid to Israel and delivered more than 50,000 tons of military equipment. It is American bombs and American military equipment being used to destroy Gaza, kill 50,000 people, injure over 110,000 people. We cannot hide from that reality."
Van Hollen also spoke in favor of the resolutions, while Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair James Risch (R-Idaho) spoke out against them—and said that just before walking into the chamber, he was handed a paper detailing President Donald Trump's opposition to the measures.
As Common Dreams has reported, since taking office in January, Trump has sanctioned the International Criminal Court, citing its November arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister; welcomed the Israeli leader to the White House; and proposed a U.S. takevoer of Gaza.
"Today, as the Trump administration accelerates U.S. weapons sales to Israel, senators had the opportunity to vote against U.S. complicity in this suffering," Annie Shiel, U.S. advocacy director at Center for Civilians in Conflict, said Thursday. "Instead, they made a choice to continue U.S. support for a bombing campaign that has made Gaza unlivable for Palestinian civilians."
"We commend the 15 senators who voted to block these sales, protect civilians, and uphold U.S. and international law, and reiterate our call for the end to U.S. arms transfers to Israel, unfettered humanitarian access, and a renewed cease-fire," she added.
Dr. Mimi Syed, an emergency medicine physician who served in two medical tours in Gaza last year, also called out the Senate's majority on Thursday, declaring that they "capitulated to Trump" and that "our government's unconditional support for this genocide sends a dangerous message that violations of Palestinian dignity and freedom will continue to go unchecked."
“Every day in Gaza, I witnessed the devastating consequences of these U.S.-made bombs—entire families buried under rubble, hospitals forced to shut down, and patients left to die because there's no power, no medicine, and no way to evacuate," Syed said. "The U.S. is not just enabling these atrocities—it is directly funding it. And things have only worsened since Israel broke the cease-fire two weeks ago."
Josh Paul, who resigned from the U.S. State Department to protest then-President Joe Biden's support for the Israeli assault and then co-founded A New Policy, suggested that "if any other country in the world was using American bombs to kill thousands of innocent people—including the greatest loss of life among journalists in history, and the greatest loss of life among U.N. workers since the organization was established—U.S. senators would be lining up to block such weapons transfers."
"The transfer of these arms by consecutive presidents undermines our credibility and morality as a global power—while Congress' acquiescence is a failure of our elected officials to stand up for the application of our own laws," he asserted. "Continued unfettered arms sales to Israel enables gross human rights violations and will keep Israel from coming back to the negotiating table after a broken cease-fire."
"I left my post at the State Department in 2023 because the arms transfers I was being asked to facilitate were not being done in the name of peace, security, nor the interests of the American people," he added. "Our government must reassess not just our policies, but the values driving them."
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Teachers Say 'See You In Court' as Trump Tries to Abolish Department of Education
"We won't be silent as anti-public education politicians try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires," said the head of the nation's largest labor union.
Mar 20, 2025
Update:
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday afternoon directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of shutting down the Department of Education.
"Hopefully she will be our last secretary of education," Trump said of McMahon, promising to "find something else" for the billionaire businesswoman to do.
Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate campaign, responded to Trump's move by announcing a Friday "study-in" outside Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C.
BREAKING: Students announce a "Study-In" at the Department of Education. If Trump and Musk want to abolish the Department of Education and destroy our futures, they'll have to go through us. Join us tomorrow starting at 10am.
[image or embed]
— Sunrise Movement (@sunrisemvmt.bsky.social) March 20, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Earlier:
As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order Thursday directing officials to shut down the Department of Education, Democratic politicians, teachers and communities across the nation are vowing legal and other challenges to the move.
Trump is set to check off a longtime Republican wish list item by signing a directive ordering Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states."
Shutting down the department—which was created in 1979 to ensure equitable access to public education and employs more than 4,000 people—will require an act of Congress, both houses of which are controlled by Republicans.
"Trump and his Cabinet of billionaires are trying to destroy the Department of Education so they can privatize more schools."
Thursday's expected order follows the department's announcement earlier this month that it would fire half of its workforce. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and more than three dozen Democratic senators condemned the move and Trump's impending Department of Education shutdown as "a national disgrace."
Abolishing the Department of Education is one of the top goals of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led roadmap for a far-right takeover and gutting of the federal government closely linked to Trump, despite his unconvincing efforts to distance himself from the highly controversial plan.
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) called Trump's bid to abolish the Department of Education "more bullshit" and vowed to fight the president's "illegal behavior until the cows come home."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on social media: "Trump and his Cabinet of billionaires are trying to destroy the Department of Education so they can privatize more schools. The result: making it even harder to ensure that ALL students have access to a quality education. Another outrageous, illegal scam. We will fight this."
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat,
warned that "ending the U.S. Department of Education will decimate our education system and devastate families across the country."
"Support for students with special needs and those in rural and urban schools will be gone," he added. "We will stop at nothing to protect N.J. and fight this reckless action."
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA)—the nation's largest labor union—said in a statement Thursday that "Donald Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of the 50 million students in rural, suburban, and urban communities across America, by dismantling public education to pay for tax handouts for billionaires."
Musk—the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—is the world's richest person. Trump and McMahon are also billionaires.
"If successful, Trump's continued actions will hurt all students by sending class sizes soaring, cutting job training programs, making higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, taking away special education services for students with disabilities, and gutting student civil rights protections," Pringle warned.
"This morning, in hundreds of communities across the nation, thousands of families, educators, students, and community leaders joined together outside of neighborhood public schools to rally against taking away resources and support for our students," she continued. "And, we are just getting started. Every day we are growing our movement to protect our students and public schools."
"We won't be silent as anti-public education politicians try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires," Pringle added. "Together with parents and allies, we will continue to organize, advocate, and mobilize so that all students have well-resourced schools that allow every student to grow into their full brilliance."
The ACLU is circulating a petition calling on Congress to "save the Department of Education."
"The Department of Education has an enormous effect on the day-to-day lives of students across the country," the petition states. "They are tasked with protecting civil rights on campus and ensuring that every student—regardless of where they live; their family's income; or their race, sex, gender identity, or disability—has equal access to education."
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers,
responded to Trump's looming order in four words: "See you in court."
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'I'm 100% Certain,' Says Top Dem, That Musk 'Looking for an Excuse to Cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid'
"We have one simple message," said another lawmaker: "Keep your hands off."
Feb 11, 2025
Amid fears that U.S. President Donald Trump's government-gutting billionaire adviser, Elon Musk, will target Social Security, elected officials, advocates, workers, and beneficiaries of the federal program for seniors and people with disabilities held a Monday rally in Maryland.
"We have one simple message, which is: Elon Musk, keep your hands off of our Social Security!" declared U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). He took aim at not only the chair of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency but also his "DOGE crew," warning of Musk and his minions "conducting illegal raids on federal agencies" in what other critics have called a "hostile corporate takeover of American democracy."
The senator pointed out that "they have accessed highly sensitive personal information on Americans at the Department of Treasury, including Social Security numbers, bank accounts, and other very sensitive information," and "worked to shut down a number of federal agencies," including the U.S. Agency for International Development and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
He also highlighted DOGE attacks on the U.S. Department of Education and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and reporting that "their next stop" is the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The rally at SSA headquarters was organized after Semaforreported Thursday that the agency "is an upcoming focus" of the Musk-led panel. As the outlet put it: "DOGE's interest in trying to root out fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, and perhaps soon in cutting at the Social Security Administration, suggests that government programs once seen as untouchable may be on the table."
Reporting on the rally, Newsweeknoted that "Trump has pushed back on the narrative that the popular benefits will be slashed, saying when asked if there are limits on what Musk can examine, 'Social Security will not be touched, it will only be strengthened.'"
"Trump has not made any official cuts to Social Security since taking office," the outlet added, "but amid his administration's attempted overhaul of government agencies and spending, the Social Security Administration could face personnel losses in terms of layoffs or administrative funding without cuts directly to Social Security payments."
Further fueling fears of DOGE-led attacks, Musk wrote on his social media platform X earlier Tuesday: "At this point, I am 100% certain that the magnitude of the fraud in federal entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc) exceeds the combined sum of every private scam you've ever heard by FAR. It's not even close."
To this message, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas), fired back: "At this point I'm 100% certain that Elon Musk is looking for an excuse to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Fire Elon Musk."
In response to Semafor's reporting last week, Social Security Works, an advocacy group, warned that Trump was "empowering Elon Musk to play Russian roulette with our earned benefits."
The organization's communications director, Linda Benesch, told Common Dreams that "the Social Security Administration is already understaffed and underresourced. Musk and his gang of teenagers want to make this crisis worse, and make it harder for Americans to get the benefits they've earned."
"They may also intentionally or unintentionally break the technology SSA uses to calculate benefits," Benesch added. "We suggest that everyone go to SSA.gov and download a copy of their Social Security statement right away so that there's a record of what they've earned."
Speakers at the Monday rally slammed Trump and Musk's attempts to purge the federal workforce. U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) said that "we are standing in front of a building that represents thousands of Marylanders who have been coming to work in this building—civil servants for over 60 years now who have been coming to this building, doing the essential work of processing Social Security checks for nearly 72 million Americans."
"When we think about the servants who stand in this building and buildings all across our country, these are men and women who come to work every day—and these are not Democratic jobs or Republican jobs, these are American jobs," she continued. "It is also the case that those who have served in this building do so no matter who the president is. Many of them have served for decades, under Republican presidents, under Democratic presidents—again, because they serve the people."
"When you target civil servants, you also target the people they serve," Alsobrooks stressed. "They serve our grandmothers, our grandfathers, our mothers and fathers—like mine—our friends, our neighbors, and family members with disabilities who rely on Social Security."
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