BRATTLEBORO-I'm grateful for the recent actions of our three Vermont legislators, calling for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Sen. Peter Welch introduced a resolution in April to challenge the famine in Gaza, which Sen. Bernie Sanders joined, in addition to 44 other senators. Rep. Becca Balint introduced a bill in June along with 120 other representatives
In matters of war, there are congressional resolutions known as privileged. Three in the Senate and one in the House have the distinctive power of not being filibustered and can be introduced by any member of Congress, and any member can bring these to the floor and force a vote. Such a vote serves as a way to hold our legislators accountable. One of these is a war powers resolution, which declares that only Congress can declare war, not the president.
I call on each of my legislators to introduce a Gaza war powers resolution in their chamber. Such an action would provide more weight to their convictions and hopefully gather wider support than that to this date.
As demonstrated by Sen. Sanders' vote on July 30, the call continues to grow for ending U.S. participation in Israel's war on Gaza: 27 senators voted to end certain munitions sales to Israel in July. The previous count on April's vote was 15, which was a large increase over the 3 senators who voted yea late last year.
We are lucky to have such stellar people representing us in Washington, D.C. I urge them to keep pushing for relief in Gaza and for adherence to the Constitution.
MaryDiane Baker
Brattleboro
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