Senate Strikes Down Bernie Sanders’ Resolution to Block Arms Sale to Israel
The U.S. Senate voted down three bills by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont that would have stopped the U.S. from selling arms to Israel worth about $20 billion.
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Sanders introduced three Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) in late December of last year. Given that Israel has a lot of support in the upper chamber, the motions were not expected to pass.
Sanders has spoken out against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military actions and limits on sending aid. He says that Israel is breaking international law and going beyond its right to protect itself.
Along with other military aid, the three resolutions tried to stop the transfer of U.S. tank rounds, water rounds, and guidance kits attached to the “bombs dropped in Gaza” to Israel. The steps would have stopped the U.S. from selling about $20 billion worth of weapons to Israel.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the United States has given Israel more than $310 billion in economic and military aid, including at least $228 billion in military aid. The United States is a strong ally of Israel.
“The United States government is currently in violation of the law, and every member of the U.S. Senate who believes in the rule of law should vote for the resolutions,” Sanders said the day before the vote.
The Vermont Independent alleged that the U.S. is breaking the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act by giving weapons to countries that break internationally recognized human rights or that stop U.S. humanitarian help.
The United Nations and many humanitarian groups have told the world about Israel’s violations, pointing out in particular its limits on sending humanitarian help. Israel has said it will provide food and other kinds of humanitarian help.
The Senate has been busy this week.
Maj. Gen. John L. Rafferty, Jr., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
Rafferty, currently the chief of staff at U.S. European Command in Germany, possesses over 33 years of leadership and technical expertise, particularly in field artillery operations and command and staff roles.
Rafferty’s notable recent positions encompass commanding general of the 56th Artillery Command, U.S. Army Europe-Africa, Germany; chief of Army Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.; director of the Long Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team, Fort Sill, Oklahoma; executive officer to the director of the Army Staff, Washington, D.C.; and commander of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
He has provided support for Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Spartan Shield, Inherent Resolve, and others.
Rafferty is succeeding Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, who is retiring after over 35 years of military service.
Recently, Senate Republicans confirmed nearly 100 of President Trump’s nominees, outpacing previous administrations and even his own first term.
A 53–43 vote Thursday approved 97 of Trump’s picks, marking some of the final floor action in the Senate after a frenetic stretch driven by Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., once Republicans took control of the chamber in January.
Along the way, Republicans navigated internal divisions to pass the president’s signature “one big, beautiful bill” and reopened the government following the longest shutdown in U.S. history, Fox News reported.
Confirming Trump’s nominees, however, often proved nearly impossible under Senate rules, as Democrats imposed blanket objections to even the lowest-level positions across the government.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Republicans began the year confirming Trump’s Cabinet at a breakneck pace, only to run headlong into what he described as “unprecedented obstruction from the Democratic minority.”
“We began the year by confirming President Trump’s Cabinet faster than any Senate in modern history,” Barrasso said per Fox. “And by week’s end, President Trump will have 417 nominees confirmed by the Senate this year. That’s far more than the 365 that Joe Biden had in his first year in office.”
Trump Declares Biden’s Autopen Orders, Documents Null and Void
President Donald Trump announced that any document former President Joe Biden signed using the autopen has been “hereby terminated.” The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the previous administration’s reliance on the device, which applies a signature to documents without the president physically signing them.
Critics of the former president argued that documents were signed without Biden’s knowledge, fueling claims that his cognitive ability declined during his time in the White House, Mediaite reported.
Biden has rejected those allegations and said he was personally responsible for every pardon issued in the final days of his presidency.
“Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect,” Trump wrote.
“The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States. The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him. I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”
Presidents are believed to have used versions of the autopen for more than 200 years, dating back to Thomas Jefferson, who obtained one after it was patented in 1803, according to the Shapell Manuscript Foundation.
Gerald Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama are all known to have used the device.
Obama became the first president to use an autopen to sign legislation in 2011.
In 2005, during the Bush administration, the Justice Department concluded the autopen is legal.
“A person may sign a document by directing that his signature be affixed to it by another,” a DOJ memo said. Legal scholars have also noted that the Constitution does not require presidents to personally sign pardons.
Trump made similar allegations about Biden’s autopen use in June, at which time he called for an investigation.
On Oct. 28, the Republican led House Oversight Committee recommended the Justice Department investigate the issue.
The White House responded to questions about how Biden’s orders could be “terminated” by referring back to Trump’s Truth Social post.
Trump told reporters in March that he has used the autopen “only for very unimportant papers.”
“You know, we get thousands and thousands of letters, letters of support for young people, from people that aren’t feeling well, etcetera,” Trump said.
“But to sign pardons and all of the things that he signed with an autopen is disgraceful.”
In a July interview with The New York Times, Biden said Republicans are “liars” for claiming he was unaware of his own White House actions that were signed using the autopen.
“I made every decision,” Biden said.
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President Trump announced Thursday that he plans to temporarily halt immigration from third-world countries following the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. In a post on Truth Social, the president said the nation has advanced technologically but “Immigration Policy has eroded those gains and living conditions for many,” RedState reported.
He wrote that he will “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
