The Republican amendment to the annual defense budget is just one of several proposals to restrict humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The House voted on Wednesday to block the U.S. from funding the reconstruction of Gaza, whose destruction was financed by the U.S. to a large degree.

Other Republicans filed amendments combating the movement to boycott, divest, or sanction Israel for its illegal occupation of Palestine.

The provision was introduced by Reps. Brian Mast, R-Fla.; Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y.; and Eli Crane, R-Ariz., as an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense budget. While Democrats opposed the amendment, which passed by a simple voice vote, they did not request a recorded vote.

Among the amendments with Democratic sponsors are ones expressing support for joint military ventures between the U.S. and Israel.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., for his part, filed an amendment to require an assessment of the accuracy of the Gaza Ministry of Health’s death toll accounting. Over the last eight months, supporters of Israel have pointed to the fact that Hamas — as Gaza’s governing entity — controls the health ministry as a way to undermine its death count. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Health’s figures have in the past been corroborated by the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, and even the Israeli government itself.

  • @Etterra
    15•6 months ago

    Until and unless we get ranked voting, we’re stuck using the shit two-party system if we want to actually have a chance for our votes matter.

    • @Fungah
      -6•6 months ago

      No you’re not.

      I’m Canadian. We have first past the post. Largely its a toss up between 1 of 2 parties federally but our far left party has won provincial elections and was within spitting distance of winning federally in recent memory.

      It isnt fptp that’s prevenring you from electing a third party. Its your share delusion that it can’t happen.

      • TheHiddenCatboyEnglish
        4•6 months ago

        Your election system allowed Doug Ford to win the Premiership of Ontario with 2.3 million votes, despite the NDP winning 1.9 million votes and the Liberal party winning 1.1 million votes. In fact, Ford won Ontario with a net margin of victory of -991,722 votes. That is to say, he lost the popular vote by almost a million votes, and still win the majority of seats. Here’s a few highlights

        8 ridings went for the Progressive Conservatives in a margin narrower than 1000. These are:

        • Ottawa West - Nepean (175 MoV, 16.4k NDP, 14.8k Lib)
        • Brantford - Brant (635 MoV, 23.8k NDP, 5.6k Lib)
        • Brampton West (490 MoV, 14.5k NDP, 7.0k Lib)
        • Sault Ste. Marie (414 MoV, 13.1k NDP, 3.2k Lib)
        • Kitchener-Conestoga (686 MoV, 16.3 NDP, 6.0k Lib)
        • Kitchener South - Hespeler (770 MoV, 15.7k NDP, 6.3k Lib)
        • Eglinton-Lawrence (957 MoV, 9.0k NDP, 19.0k Lib)
        • Scarborough-Rouge Park (963 MoV, 15.3k NDP, 8.8k Lib)

        Had less than 1000 people in each of these ridings from the smaller left wing party given their votes to the larger left-wing party, 8 seats would have been taken from the Progressive Conservatives (leaving them with 68 seats), and the NDP would have gained 7 seats (47) and the Libs would have gained 1 (going up to 8).

        This is the same for another 23 ridings, but with a larger margin of victory. These ridings were nevertheless won by fewer votes than were sent to the smaller left-wing party. If we subtract these 23 seats, the PCs would have been down to 45 seats, enough for the NDP to have more seats before we allocate these 23 seats between the Libs, NDP, and Greens.

        I like a lot of things about Canada, but I don’t like this fact about your country, and I don’t want it imported into the United States. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania went to Trump in 2016 not because more people voted for Trump’s policies than against them, but because enough people bought the bullshit that Clinton was corrupt and no better than Trump and voted third party or stayed home. Had the Stein voters used a bit of common sense and rethought their votes, we could have avoided 4 years of utter shitshow here. Canadian politics won’t help us here. All we need to do is look at your province of Ontario and see that clear as day.

        • TheHiddenCatboyEnglish
          2•6 months ago

          An interesting thought exercise. What if Ontario used Proportional Representation. Ford would have gotten 76 seats, but he’d have seen an Ontario Parliament that was 187 or 188 seats. Of these:

          • The NDP would have gotten another 22 seats, in addition to their 40 won seats, for 62 total seats.
          • The Liberals would have gotten another 29 seats, in addition to their 7 won seats, for 36 total seats.
          • The Greens would have gotten 7 additional seats, plus their 1 won seat, for a total of 8 seats.
          • 5 seats would have to be allocated between the NDP, Liberals, and Greens since the Progressive Conservatives shouldn’t be entitled to more than 40.5% of the seats as they got 40.5% of the vote.

          We’d have to amend the US constitution to make this happen here, but I think you guys could just do it with a law there. But this is what ifs and coulda-bens. The as-is shows clearly why we don’t want to import your political system here. Democrats would never win an election again if we split our votes like Ontarians split theirs…

      • Victoria Antoinette
        0•6 months ago

        strategic voting consolidates parties. values voting is the only way to elect someone with your own values.