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Category: Trumpism

  • MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Sues Top Trump Officials over Illegal Termination of Tens of Billions in Grant Funding

    Source: US State of California

    Since January, the Trump Administration has baselessly relied on a single subclause buried deep in federal regulations to slash tens of billions in previously awarded grant funding

    OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today sued the Trump Administration over its improper use of a single subclause buried in federal regulations promulgated by the Office of Management of Budget (OMB) to terminate tens of billions of dollars in grant funding to the states. Since taking office, the Trump Administration has engaged in a nationwide slash-and-burn campaign, unlawfully invoking 2 C.F.R. § 200.340(a)(4) (“the Clause”) to justify the termination of tens of billions of dollars in critical federal funding appropriated by Congress and awarded to the states. The Trump Administration has claimed that five words in the Clause — “no longer effectuates . . . agency priorities” — provide federal agencies with virtually unfettered authority to withhold funding any time they no longer wish to support the programs for which Congress has appropriated funding. In today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and a multistate coalition argue that the Administration is misconstruing the Clause and that the Clause, properly read, does not allow for grant terminations based on agency priorities that were set or changed only after a grant was originally awarded. 

    “The Trump Administration has recklessly and chaotically slashed federal grant funding that is intended to prevent crime, rebuild our roads, develop technology for the future, and everything in between,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This hack job has been done under the flimsy premise of ‘changed agency priorities’ — even when this funding has been previously appropriated by Congress and awarded to the states. For federal funding to work, the states that receive that funding need to be able to plan ahead, make investments, and be confident that this funding will not be terminated on a whim. We’re asking the court to block the Trump Administration’s unlawful invocation of this clause as a sweeping justification for the termination of grant funding.”

    With the stroke of a pen, federal agencies ranging from the U.S. Department of Justice to the Environmental Protection Agency to the Department of Labor have deprived California and other states of essential funding they rely on to combat violent crime, prevent terrorist attacks, educate students with special needs, respond to natural disasters, protect clean drinking water, conduct life-saving medical and scientific research, upgrade crumbling transportation infrastructure, and much more. Federal agencies have done all of this without advance notice, without explanation to the state recipients, and in direct contravention of the will of Congress.    

    In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that federal agencies’ invocation of the Clause to terminate grant funding runs counter to OMB’s own interpretation of its own regulations. When OMB first promulgated the Clause in 2020, it made clear that the language granted federal agencies only limited authority to terminate grants. Indeed, the coalition is not aware of a single instance prior to January 2025 in which a federal agency relied on the Clause to terminate a grant on the grounds that agency priorities had changed after the award of the grant. Since January 2025, however, federal agencies across the Trump Administration have asserted that the Clause provides them with a blank check to terminate grants already awarded to states based on newly identified agency priorities — even when those priorities conflict with the priorities identified by Congress or by the agency at the time of the grant award. Attorney General Bonta and the coalition today ask the District Court to declare that the Clause and the Trump Administration’s regulations implementing the Clause do not on their own provide sufficient grounds to terminate awards; vacate the Trump Administration’s decision to invoke the Clause as grounds for terminating grants based on a change in agency priorities; and permanently bar the Trump Administration from invoking the Clause in the future.   

    Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the state of Pennsylvania, in filing the lawsuit. 

    A copy of the lawsuit is available here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Brazil’s dangerous flirtation with counterterrorism

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By James Fitzgerald, Associate Professor of Terrorism Studies, Dublin City University

    American pop star Lady Gaga delivered a free concert to over 2.1 million revellers on Copacabana beach in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in May. Those attuned to security concerns saw a policing and public safety nightmare.

    And shortly after the concert, Rio de Janeiro’s civil police secretary, Felipe Curi, announced that the worst realisation of this nightmare had almost come to pass. An improvised bomb attack targeting fans had been thwarted thanks to police intelligence.

    A loose group of conspirators from across Brazil, gelled across chat apps and other social media by anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments, planned to murder civilians. The intention was to send a political message about resisting what they see as “indecency” and “social decadence”.

    Given the setting, volume of media coverage and possibility of a panicked stampede, Brazil had surely avoided the worst terrorist attack in its history.

    For an attack to qualify as “terrorism”, it must be carried out for explicitly political purposes – motives akin to reshaping society violently or agitating for self-determination through force.

    Yet, a month after the thwarted Copacabana attack, the main conversation about terrorism in Brazil is focused on mistaken efforts to label criminal groups as terrorists.

    In late May, Brazil’s Congress fast tracked a bill that would broaden the definition of terrorism to include the actions of criminal organisations and militias. This is on the basis that their routine practices of “imposing territorial control” are designed to spread “social or widespread terror”. The bill is overly vague and extremely dangerous.

    Brazilian organised crime

    Equating organised crime and the violence it produces with “terrorism” is somewhat understandable. Organised gangs in Brazil, such as Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), control vast expanses of territory, and civilians ultimately pay the price.

    However, as endemic as organised crime is in Brazil, these groups strive for self-enrichment. Their violence is used solely to either protect or enhance this goal. Neither CV nor PCC have any political motive that would qualify their actions as terrorism.

    The government already has legal ways to deal with criminal groups, but it has been hard to achieve lasting, positive results using these methods.

    Should the actions of criminal organisations be reclassified as terrorism, a new suite of measures will become available to the state’s repressive apparatus. This will be true for the current government and future administrations.

    New measures to fight terrorism are practically guaranteed to erode democratic and procedural norms. Armed with a remit to eradicate terrorism, states have repeatedly shown that they exacerbate the very cycles of violence they aim to erase.

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    French-Algerian philosopher Jacques Derrida identified the essence of this dilemma in 2003. In an interview reflecting on the 9/11 attacks on the US, Derrida said that the primary threat of terrorism was not just in the violence itself, but in how societies respond to it.

    The US’s disastrous “war on terror”, for example, led to a consequential wave of violence worldwide. It is estimated to have killed over 500,000 civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. And western countries that joined the fray have suffered jihadist attacks in return.

    Governments also adopted new measures to deal with security issues inside their own countries. Potential terrorists were apprehended through surveillance, with the new goal of counterterrorism being to intervene before violence is able to occur.

    States of emergency, which significantly curtail civil liberties, were routinely imposed in the aftermath of high-profile terrorist attacks. This included a state of emergency after the November 2015 attacks in Paris that gave the authorities power to search any premises without judicial oversight.

    The implementation of this logic continues today. At the time of writing, denunciations of Israel’s assault on Gaza continue to be spuriously tied to support for “terrorism”.

    Hamas is a terrorist organisation. But that should not see Palestinian civilians – nor supporters of their rights – labelled as potential terrorists. Yet student protesters in the US have been threatened with deportation, financial ruin and even imprisonment.

    The term “terrorism” contains within it a power to dress state repression as a proportionate response to emergency. In El Salvador, we have seen how counterterrorism is being applied as an emergency means to solve the country’s organised crime problem.

    Nayib Bukele’s government has sent countless criminals to the Terrorism Confinement Centre mega-prison in Tecoluca. It has also condemned many innocent civilians to a parallel fate, with little-to-no chance of redress or due process.

    The tragic consequences of state crackdowns against those spuriously labelled as “terrorists” lingers in the historical memory of Brazil. This new bill moves to the Senate at a time of renewed culturing reckoning with the consequences of Brazil’s repressive campaigns under the military dictatorship of 1964 to 1985.

    Brazil should recognise its fortune in never having truly adopted the discourse of the war on terror. Now, it should not adopt an evolved discourse of counterterrorism to address the very serious – but very separate – problem of organised crime.

    In the name of order and progress, and with an eye towards civilians who would ultimately pay the price, this bill cannot be allowed to become law.

    James Fitzgerald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Brazil’s dangerous flirtation with counterterrorism – https://theconversation.com/brazils-dangerous-flirtation-with-counterterrorism-258347

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: New industrial strategy brings Rachel Reeves’ securonomics to life – but will it protect Britain from more supply chain shocks?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Phil Tomlinson, Professor of Industrial Strategy, Co-Director Centre for Governance, Regulation and Industrial Strategy (CGR&IS), University of Bath

    Peter Titmuss/Shutterstock

    Brexit, COVID, the war in Ukraine and now Trump’s tariffs have all highlighted how vulnerable life in the UK is to disruptions in trade. Everyday items that people rely on can be subject to major shortages, delays and price rises, due to something as simple as a ship getting stuck in a canal.

    This is because the UK is hugely reliant on other countries to provide much of what it needs. Medical supplies, cars, electronics and fruit are just a few of Britain’s favourite things that it tends to buy in from elsewhere.

    Global supply chains deliver lower prices and wider choice to consumers but they are also often highly complex. In the car industry for example, components may move within and between companies and cross national boundaries many times, before ending up in the final assembled vehicle. This can make them vulnerable.

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    In response to the disruption of recent years, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has long been arguing for what she calls “securonomics” – investing in domestic energy sources and resilient networks. So perhaps it was no surprise that the British government’s new industrial strategy plans emphasise the importance of supply chain security.

    A new industrial competitiveness scheme for example, is designed to cut energy costs for the UK’s most energy intensive firms, which manufacture things like steel, ceramics and glass. This should help domestic supply capacity.



    Read more:
    UK plan to cut energy bills for industrial firms threatens to leave small businesses out in the cold

    A reported £600 million has also been allocated to develop the UK’s logistics industry. And there is a proposal for a “national supply chain centre” to identify weaknesses, enhance domestic capability and build strategic international partnerships. Vulnerabilities and dependencies will also be more closely monitored.

    Another focus will be to diversify critical supply chains by reducing the UK’s dependence on single supplier nations (such as China for rare earth elements or semiconductors). One option should be strengthening alliances with friendly nations (known as “friendshoring”) with the aim of embedding supply chains in places that can be relied upon.

    The recently announced trade deals with the US and India, and signs of greater cooperation with the EU do offer some promise in this area. Trade deals help with supply chain cooperation, but could go further and include resilience initiatives (such as creating joint stockpiles of things like critical minerals) to reduce disruption in the future.

    An increased supply of cyber security.
    metamorworks/Shutterstock

    Manufacturing from home

    On the domestic front, the UK could still do more to incentivise “reshoring” (bringing some manufacturing or production of goods back to the UK). Reversing decades of decline in these sectors would be challenging, and require a long-term investment in domestic capacity and skills. But it could also deliver a boost to jobs and growth, potentially in parts of the UK which need it most.

    Given recent geopolitics, the government has also prioritised strengthening the defence supply chain, allocating £173 million of new funding on defence infrastructure and skills. Developments are are at an early stage, but the recent UK-EU security and defence partnership is a welcome start. And more work will be needed to make UK-EU collaboration on building a resilient defence industry across Europe a reality.

    Supply chains within that industry (and others, such as healthcare) can be vulnerable to cyberattacks and economic coercion from malicious groups and hostile foreign states. So enhancing cybersecurity in logistics and infrastructure will also be critical.

    This will mean better protection for ports, customs systems and logistics software. There is some limited additional funding on offer for this, but more will be required, which in turn will open up new opportunities for firms in the cyber industry. Indeed, a “cyber cluster” of businesses is already emerging in central England from the government defence and technology campus at Porton Down in Wiltshire across to GCHQ – the national centre for intelligence and security – in Gloucestershire.

    But with still much to do, overall Reeves has been right to stress the importance of supply chains. They are crucial to people’s jobs and homes, the medicines they need and the food they eat. And supply chain security is not just an economic issue. It is a strategic imperative for safeguarding the UK, its businesses and the welfare of its citizens.

    The tone of the new industrial strategy reflects Reeves’s “securonomics” rhetoric. But how far this goes in actually strengthening supply chains and boosting their resilience remains open to question, especially in the context of limited resources and a chancellor keen to build a reputation for fiscal prudence.

    Phil Tomlinson receives funding from the Innovation and Research Caucus (IRC).

    David Bailey receives funding from the ESRC’s UK in a Changing Europe programme.

    Paddy Bradley is affiliated with the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise based at Newcastle University.
    He is Chair of TransWilts Community Interest Company which aims to increase public use of trains and buses in the Wiltshire area.
    He is Chair of Governors of Wiltshire College and University Centre.

    – ref. New industrial strategy brings Rachel Reeves’ securonomics to life – but will it protect Britain from more supply chain shocks? – https://theconversation.com/new-industrial-strategy-brings-rachel-reeves-securonomics-to-life-but-will-it-protect-britain-from-more-supply-chain-shocks-258410

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Beyer Statement On Fifth Straight Increase In Virginia’s Unemployment Rate

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Don Beyer (D-VA)

    Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), who serves as the top House Democrat on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, today expressed rising concern over Virginia’s economy, after monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that the Commonwealth’s unemployment rate had risen for the fifth consecutive month. The increase brought Virginia’s unemployment rate to 3.4 percent, its highest level since August 2021. Today’s data marks the first time that Virginia’s unemployment rate has risen for five consecutive months since the sustained job losses of the Great Recession in 2008-09.

    Beyer said:

    “The sustained increase in Virginia’s unemployment rate is a growing concern, especially amid the uncertainty created by President Trump and Elon Musk’s indiscriminate and ill-conceived mass firings of federal workers and contractors.

    “Governor Youngkin inherited a strong economy that was rebounding from the pandemic downturn with strong growth and job gains, and a 2.7 percent unemployment rate that was the envy of much of the nation. To be clear, our Commonwealth is still a great place to do business, with job gains still coming and unemployment below the national average. But today’s data shows we are now clearly moving in the wrong direction: under current leadership, the unemployment rate has risen for five straight months for the first time since the Great Recession, and reached its highest level since Governor Youngkin took office.

    “These gathering economic storm clouds are unfortunate but not surprising for anyone who reads the news. Sustained damage to Virginia’s economy – including this Administration’s mass firings of workers, terminations of key contracts, freezes of medical research funding, and attacks on our educational and research institutions – is bound to have an impact. Unless courts intervene, some of the largest firings and cuts will take effect in months to come, which would worsen the damage for Virginians. Unfortunately, our Governor and his allies have not only failed to defend our Commonwealth from these hits to our economy, they have cheered them on. Putting politics and party loyalty over Virginians and our economic security is a failure of leadership.”

    Historical economic data, including unemployment rates for states including Virginia, is tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED).

    Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) is the Senior House Democrat on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, and serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, which has jurisdiction over major economic levers include tax policy, trade, and Social Security. He previously served as Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor from 1990-1998.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: US attack on Iran lacks legal justification and could lead to more nuclear proliferation

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By David Hastings Dunn, Professor of International Politics in the Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham

    After a stern warning from Donald Trump, Israel and Iran appear finally to be observing a US-brokered ceasefire announced by Donald Trump overnight on June 23. But just as it remains unclear what the state of the conflict is, many other uncertainties remain when it comes to the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

    We still don’t know the extent to which Iran’s stock of enriched uranium and the capability to use it have been destroyed. But leaving aside such practical considerations, the US bombing raid also constituted an attack on the prevailing international legal order.

    In some ways, the US actions echo the 1981 Israeli strike on Osirak when the Israeli Air Force attacked and partially destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor, killing ten Iraqi soldiers and one French technician.

    However, the US attack can be seen as more serious because it has been launched in a far more fragile and geopolitical environment. Moreover, the state violating the legal rules is the erstwhile guardian of the legal order –– the USA.

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    The attacks appear to be the logical follow through of Trump’s withdrawal from the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA) in 2018. This was the Obama-era agreement that significantly limited Iran’s enrichment of nuclear material. For Trump, that negotiated deal was imperfect, as it relied on ongoing Iranian restraint. His decision to unleash US bombers was designed to end the nascent Iranian nuclear threat once and for all.

    But such unilateral actions rarely result in such black and white results. And this situation shows every indication of being no different. It is for this reason that negotiated solutions and agreed legal frameworks are generally regarded as better long-term solutions than military force.

    A significant inhibition on the use of force to remove nuclear threats has been its lack of justification under international law. When the administration of George W Bush decided to launch its invasion of Iraq in 2003, the US, UK and Australian governments that spearheaded the invasion relied on the express legal justification that Iraq was already in breach of existing UN security council resolutions that required it to be disarmed of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

    For his part, Trump relied on the argument that Iran’s nuclear facilities already posed an imminent threat to US security. This argument had been undermined by none other than Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, just weeks previously.

    Gabbard testified before Congress in March that the US “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme he suspended in 2003”.

    Tulsi Gabbard delivers the annual threat assessment in March 2025.

    Trump, who has a habit of ignoring his intelligence community, dismissed Gabbard’s assessment saying, “I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having it”.

    No legal justification

    One thing that is striking about the June 22 US bombing campaign is the cursory attention given to any substantive legal justification. It’s a distinct contrast to Bush’s attempts – however much this strained the law to breaking point – to justify his 2003 use of force.

    The US ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Camille Shea, made only the most limited of references to the legality of the action in her speech to the UN security council a day after the US strikes.

    George W Bush’s ‘Mission accomplished’ speech.

    In our book Drones, Force, and Law we demonstrate how the defining mark of an international society is that states recognise the need to give an account of their behaviour in terms of the accepted legal rules.

    Even when policymakers know that they are breaking established interpretations of the law, they rarely admit this publicly. They seek to offer a legal justification – however strained and implausible – that is in conformity with the rules.

    If a state openly admitted that it was violating the law, giving a justification for its conduct only in terms of that state’s values and beliefs, then it would be treating others with contempt. It would, to quote the respected Australian international relations theorist, Hedley Bull, “place in jeopardy all the settled expectations that states have about one another’s behaviour”.

    This is exactly what Trump is doing by not seeking to expressly justify the US’ use of force in legal terms. This invites others to mount a broader assault on international law itself as something that is both fragile and hypocritical in the hands of the powerful.

    Unintended consequences

    The US has justified its attack as aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. But a perverse consequence of the attack is that it is likely to further erode the norm against proliferation. There are two key arguments here.

    The first is that all three Iranian facilities attacked were, before Israel initially attacked Iran on June 12, under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. So, by attacking these installations, the US – like Israel four decades ago with its attack against Osirak – was signalling that it had no confidence in the multilateral mechanisms of non-proliferation. It was essentially saying that it has to rely on unilateral action.

    The second consequence is that a strike aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons may instead push it – and others – to accelerate weaponisation efforts. These US attacks may confirm for many the earlier lessons from Iraq, as well as subsequently in Libya and Ukraine. States without nuclear weapons are vulnerable to regime change or military action.

    If this is the lesson that is drawn by those who live in dangerous neighbourhoods and who are increasingly worried about their security, then the US action could serve as a further spur to nuclear proliferation.

    Trump has shown a worrying propensity to ignore legal constraints on his power both domestically and internationally. This action, less than six months into his administration, is an alarming harbinger of his contempt for the internationally agreed legal rules restricting the use of force.

    David Hastings Dunn has previously received funding from the ESRC, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Open Democracy Foundation and has previously been both a NATO and a Fulbright Fellow.

    Nicholas Wheeler has formally received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Open Society Foundations.

    – ref. US attack on Iran lacks legal justification and could lead to more nuclear proliferation – https://theconversation.com/us-attack-on-iran-lacks-legal-justification-and-could-lead-to-more-nuclear-proliferation-259638

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Robert Garcia Statement On Election to Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Robert Garcia California (42nd District)

    Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Robert Garcia (CA-42) released the following statement after House Democrats selected him to serve as Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee. He was elected by a vote of 150-63.

    “I am honored to have been chosen by my colleagues to serve as Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee. We will hold Donald Trump and his Administration accountable for their corruption and abuses of power, and will work to make our government more efficient and effective for the American people. I look forward to working with the incredible members of the committee. Now let’s get to work.” said Congressman Robert Garcia.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: In Delaware Bar Journal, Senator Coons urges First State lawyers to uphold rule of law in the face of administration attacks

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons

    WILMINGTON, Del. – In case you missed it, The Journal of the Delaware State Bar Association published a piece from U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) where he thanked Delaware lawyers for upholding their commitment to the rule of law and urged them to continue fighting for their clients and our judicial system. Senator Coons is a member of the Delaware Bar and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

    As Senator Coons noted, the Trump administration has launched a series of attacks on the rule of law since returning to the White House in January. President Trump has signed executive orders against law firms who have taken cases and hired lawyers he opposes. He has launched broadsides against judges who have ruled against him. His Justice Department has fired lawyers for adhering to their duty of candor to the court. 

    Senator Coons outlined steps he’s taking in Washington to push back on this assault by ensuring judicial nominees will uphold the law and demanding answers from the administration when they overstep their legal authority. He also reminded lawyers in Delaware and across the country, however, that they too have a part to play: “When a client comes to you, think about the merits of their case, not their political opinions,” he wrote. “If your client is targeted because of their political beliefs, stand with them.”

    From The Delaware Bar Journal: In response to “The Rally for the Rule of Law” article

    As members of the Delaware Bar, we swore an oath to “support the Constitution of the United States” and to behave with “all good fidelity” to the courts and our clients. Today, the Constitution, the courts, and the rule of law on which our clients depend are under attack. Upholding our oath means doing whatever we can to come to their defense.

    …

    There are people reading this right now, members of the Delaware Bar, colleagues, who are part of those firms or work at companies they represent. Maybe it will be a Wilmington judge who next issues an order with which the president disagrees. Maybe it will be a Newark company who hopes to fight against a new Executive Order or enters into a contract the government won’t enforce.

    I ask that you think about your own practices.

    My job in Washington is to advocate for you and try to protect you in the face of these challenges. It’s to confirm judges who will look to the law to make their decisions rather than the president, to reassure lawyers and non-lawyers alike that they can have confidence in our system of ordered liberty.

    …

    I ask that you join in whatever ways you can.

    When a client comes to you, think about the merits of their case, not their political opinions. If your client is targeted because of their political beliefs, stand with them. If your company or firm finds itself on the wrong side of the next executive order, don’t give in to the threats.

    The arc of history does not bend itself. It bends through the work of our hands.

    READ MORE HERE

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: What They Are Saying: Senate Republicans’ Legislation Delivers for American Workers, Businesses

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo

    Washington, D.C.–The Senate Finance Committee’s legislation prevents a more-than $4 trillion tax hike and makes the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, giving American families and businesses the certainty they need to invest and plan for the future.

    Individuals and organizations committed to promoting economic opportunity and prosperity for all Americans are speaking out in support of the Finance Committee tax legislation.

    U.S. Chamber of Commerce

    “The Senate has taken the House-passed bill and strengthened the policies that do the most to increase domestic investment, job creation, and wage growth.  In particular, the Senate prioritizes the permanent reinstatement of three crucial tax policies.

    “These reforms are not only foundational to a competitive tax code, but they also provide the certainty and stability businesses and workers need to foster the type of major, long-term capital investments that fuel economic growth and opportunity for all Americans.” – Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President, U.S Chamber of Commerce

    National Association of Manufacturers

    “We commend Chairman Crapo for his leadership and steadfast commitment to pro-manufacturing tax policy. By preserving the full suite of pro-growth policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, this bill marks a major step forward for manufacturing in America.” – Jay Timmons, President and CEO, National Association of Manufacturers

    National Restaurant Association

    “The Senate has included in their tax bill the top priorities restaurant operators need to be the engines of their local economies. The inclusion of a permanent 199A qualified business income deduction, full expensing of capital investments, and the return of depreciation and amortization in the calculation of business interest expense have been our highest tax priorities for more than two years. We are also pleased to see many other policies like No Tax on Tips and Overtime are also included. We appreciate the work that has gone into getting the bill to this point and urge the Senate to pass this legislation to support the restaurant industry.” – Sean Kennedy, Executive Vice President, National Restaurant Association

    U.S. Department of the Treasury 

    “We applaud the Senate’s action to progress this critical legislation and expand upon President Trump’s tax relief for hardworking Americans.  The passage of this bill will deliver the permanence and certainty both individual taxpayers and businesses alike are looking for, driving growth and unleashing the American economy.” – Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary

    Americans for Tax Reform

    “The Senate tax package delivers on President Trump’s campaign pledge to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent, providing across the board, pro-growth tax relief for American households and businesses.

    “The Senate’s tax package improves upon the House-passed bill by making the most pro-growth tax cuts permanent, greatly increasing economic growth and boosting take-home pay for American households.” – Mike Palicz, Director, Americans for Tax Reform

    National Taxpayers’ Union

    “The Senate plan encourages long-term business investment in the U.S. by making growth-boosting provisions permanent.  The House’s bill provides those deductions on a temporary basis.  But making it permanent could double the bill’s projected economic growth effect.” – Brandon Arnold, Executive Vice President, National Taxpayers’ Union

    Advancing American Freedom

    “The Senate has built on the House’s strong start to renew the Trump tax cuts.  Now Congress must continue to refine this package and send it to President Trump’s desk.  Otherwise, American families will see a devastating $2,000 increase on their taxes next year.  Let’s get this done and prevent the largest tax hike in American history.” – Tim Chapman, President, Advancing American Freedom

    Coalition for 1099-K Fairness

    “The Coalition for 1099-K Fairness strongly supports the Senate Finance package’s inclusion of language to raise the 1099-K reporting threshold.  This commonsense provision would increase the threshold to over $20,000 in total payments and more than 200 transactions per calendar year—effectively stopping the implementation of a burdensome $600 threshold, regardless of transaction count, scheduled to take effect in 2026 under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP).”

    Business Roundtable

    “Business Roundtable commends Chairman Crapo and the Senate Finance Committee for delivering strong legislation that builds on President Trump’s historic tax reform.  The Committee’s tax title marks the latest critical step toward protecting and boosting the economic benefits that tax reform delivered for American businesses, workers and families.” – Kristen Silverberg, President and COO, Business Roundtable

    Invest in Education Coalition

    “Access to opportunity for children across the country is one step closer to becoming a reality.  This bill will empower parents and provide students with opportunities regardless of their ZIP code and fulfill President Trump’s pledge of universal school choice.  We urge the U.S. Senate to pass this critically important bill to help America’s K-12 parents and students.” – Anthony J. de Nicola, Board Chairman, Invest in Education Coalition

    American Petroleum Institute

    “We applaud Chairman Crapo and the Senate Finance Committee for presenting a tax plan that fortifies America’s energy advantage. This proposal strengthens key investment provisions and encourages oil and natural gas development to meet growing demand for affordable, reliable energy. We look forward to working with Congress to get the One Big Beautiful Bill across the finish line and ensure a final tax package that advances global competitiveness.” – Mike Sommers, President and CEO, American Petroleum Institute

    Click HERE to view bill text.

    Click HERE for a section-by-section.

    Click HERE for a bill overview.

    Click HERE to view the 2025 Tax Reform landing page.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: President Trump Announces Appointments to the Homeland Security Advisory Council

    Source: US Department of Homeland Security

    President Donald J. Trump and Secretary Noem appointed new members to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) and announced the date of the council’s first meeting.

    Formed on March 19, 2002, the HSAC leverages the experience, expertise, and national and global connections of its membership to provide the Secretary of Homeland Security with real-time, real-world and independent advice on homeland security operations.

    This new-look, America First HSAC will draw upon a deep well of public and private sector experience from homeland security experts committed to fulfilling President Trump’s agenda.

    The Homeland Security Advisory Council will hold its first meeting at DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C. on July 2nd, 2025.

    Appointed Members:

    • Henry McMaster, Governor, South Carolina, Chair
    • Joseph Gruters, State Senator, Florida, Vice Chair
    • Marc Andreessen, Co-Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
    • David Chesnoff, Attorney, Chesnoff and Schonfeld.
    • Christopher “Chris” Cox, Founder, Bikers for Trump
    • Mark Dannels, Cochise County Sheriff, Arizona
    • Richard “Bo” Dietl, CEO and Founder, Beau Dietl & Associates
    • Matthew Flynn, Attorney, Steptoe. Former Deputy Assistant to the President. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.
    • Rudolph W. Giuliani, Former Mayor, New York City
    • Harvey C. Jewett IV, Retired President of Super 8 Motels Inc., Retired President and Chief Operating Officer, Rivett Group LLC., President Great Plains Education Foundation, Inc.
    • Steve Kirby, Founding Partner, Bluestem Capital Company
    • Mark Levin, Broadcast News Analyst, The Mark Levin Show
    • Corey Lewandowski, Chief Advisor to the Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
    • Nicholas Luna, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Implementation, The White House
    • George Lund, CEO and Chairman, Torch Hill Investment Partners
    • Edward McMullen Jr, Senior Policy Advisor, Adams and Reese LLP. Former Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein,
    • Georgette Mosbacher, Co-Chair, Three Seas Programming, Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, Former Ambassador to Poland
    • James “Jim” Pallotta, Managing Partner and Founder, The Raptor Group.
    • Omar Qudrat, CEO, Maden, Founder, Muslim Coalition for America, Major, U.S. Army Reserve
    • Stephen Sloan, Global Head of Private Market Secondaries, Portfolio Advisors and Co-Founder, Cogent Partners
    • Robert “Bob” Smith, Former U.S. Senator, New Hampshire
    • Alexei Woltornist, Co-Founder and President, ATHOS. Former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Homeland Security

    To learn more about the Homeland Security Advisory Council, including its previous taskings, reports, and recommendations, visit DHS.gov/Homeland-Security-Advisory-Council.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: President Trump Announces Appointments to the Homeland Security Advisory Council

    Source: US Department of Homeland Security

    President Donald J. Trump and Secretary Noem appointed new members to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) and announced the date of the council’s first meeting.

    Formed on March 19, 2002, the HSAC leverages the experience, expertise, and national and global connections of its membership to provide the Secretary of Homeland Security with real-time, real-world and independent advice on homeland security operations.

    This new-look, America First HSAC will draw upon a deep well of public and private sector experience from homeland security experts committed to fulfilling President Trump’s agenda.

    The Homeland Security Advisory Council will hold its first meeting at DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C. on July 2nd, 2025.

    Appointed Members:

    • Henry McMaster, Governor, South Carolina, Chair
    • Joseph Gruters, State Senator, Florida, Vice Chair
    • Marc Andreessen, Co-Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
    • David Chesnoff, Attorney, Chesnoff and Schonfeld.
    • Christopher “Chris” Cox, Founder, Bikers for Trump
    • Mark Dannels, Cochise County Sheriff, Arizona
    • Richard “Bo” Dietl, CEO and Founder, Beau Dietl & Associates
    • Matthew Flynn, Attorney, Steptoe. Former Deputy Assistant to the President. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.
    • Rudolph W. Giuliani, Former Mayor, New York City
    • Harvey C. Jewett IV, Retired President of Super 8 Motels Inc., Retired President and Chief Operating Officer, Rivett Group LLC., President Great Plains Education Foundation, Inc.
    • Steve Kirby, Founding Partner, Bluestem Capital Company
    • Mark Levin, Broadcast News Analyst, The Mark Levin Show
    • Corey Lewandowski, Chief Advisor to the Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
    • Nicholas Luna, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Implementation, The White House
    • George Lund, CEO and Chairman, Torch Hill Investment Partners
    • Edward McMullen Jr, Senior Policy Advisor, Adams and Reese LLP. Former Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein,
    • Georgette Mosbacher, Co-Chair, Three Seas Programming, Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, Former Ambassador to Poland
    • James “Jim” Pallotta, Managing Partner and Founder, The Raptor Group.
    • Omar Qudrat, CEO, Maden, Founder, Muslim Coalition for America, Major, U.S. Army Reserve
    • Stephen Sloan, Global Head of Private Market Secondaries, Portfolio Advisors and Co-Founder, Cogent Partners
    • Robert “Bob” Smith, Former U.S. Senator, New Hampshire
    • Alexei Woltornist, Co-Founder and President, ATHOS. Former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Homeland Security

    To learn more about the Homeland Security Advisory Council, including its previous taskings, reports, and recommendations, visit DHS.gov/Homeland-Security-Advisory-Council.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: California awards over $15 million to apprenticeship programs connecting youth to high-paying jobs

    Source: US State of California Governor

    Jun 24, 2025

    What you need to know: California is providing $15 million in new apprenticeship funding for youth for new high-paying opportunities that do not require a traditional education or four-year degree.

    SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that 29 youth apprenticeship programs will receive $15.4 million in California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) grants. The grant awards will connect opportunity youth with pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs that can lead to employment in high-demand fields, creating a pathway to upward mobility and higher earning power.

    “Success shouldn’t always require a college degree. Our investments in apprenticeships are building real, hands-on pathways into high-wage, high-growth career opportunities, especially for young people who have been left out or left behind. California is reimagining the future of work in a way that is aligned with the needs of our community and economy.”

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    “Apprenticeship funding is about scaling real, on-the-ground solutions. These grants are helping community organizations, labor unions, and employers launch new opportunities, provide stipends during training, and offer direct support to young people who need a foot in the door. The Governor’s focus on practical, targeted investment is opening career opportunities where they’re needed most.” Stewart Knox, Secretary of Labor & Workforce Development

    Opportunity youth are those aged 16 to 24, who may be young parents, former foster youth, people with disabilities, young people who face educational achievement gaps, attend schools in communities struggling with high poverty, or are fully disconnected from the education system.
     

    Paid training in high-demand jobs

    California has expanded apprenticeship opportunities for young people and continues to boost training programs for firefighters, paramedics and other health and safety careers, as well as new opportunities that do not require a traditional education or a four-year degree.

    California began offering COYA grants in 2024. During the first round, $31 million in funding supported 51 projects across various in-demand sectors. COYA second round recipients will help pair youth in strong employment sectors including:

    🎥 Behind-the-scenes union jobs in the entertainment industry through Hollywood Cinema Production Resources with a focus on populations historically excluded from these opportunities, and jobs including lighting, set dressing, editing, stagehand and more.

    🚒 Entry-level firefighter positions through San Diego Miramar College Pre-Apprenticeship Fire Academy in partnership with the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee will prepare opportunity youth with the skills and competencies needed for entry-level positions and placement on the Statewide Eligibility List for over 170 fire departments in California, with hands-on training to 100 participants in simulated lab experiences meeting all State Fire Training Fire Fighter 1 Fire Academy requirements.

    👨🏽‍🍳 Hospitality industry professionals through the Hospitality Training Academy (HTA) is a registered apprenticeship program in California that aims to place opportunity youth in Los Angeles County on a strong career path within the thriving local hospitality industry. The program will provide participants with  comprehensive training and placement with UNITE HERE Local 11 employer partners in positions covered by collective bargaining agreements that include family-sustaining wages, benefits, and pensions.

    🏫 Education paraprofessionals through the Tulare County Office of Education, creating a pipeline for careers in education with a COYA planning grant using an approach that combines shorter, related apprenticeships to create a clear career pathway to becoming K-12 teachers.

     Click here to see a full list of recipients.   

    “Watching community organizations unite to support opportunity youth through apprenticeships has been truly inspiring,” said DAS Chief Adele Burnes. “DAS remains committed to expanding access and guiding these participants toward long-term, meaningful careers.”  

    The funding will help organizations build and develop apprenticeship programs, including curriculum design and program launch. The grants will also provide youth with stipends, allowing them to earn and learn, and offer supportive services to help them succeed and move forward to high-paying jobs.

    How we got here

    Since 2019, California has served 215,393 registered apprentices, solidifying its position as the nation’s leader in apprenticeship programs. Part of Governor Newsom’s Master Plan for Career Education is devoted to expanding youth apprenticeships by enhancing career pathways in high school, strengthening workforce training for young people, and bolstering regional partnerships in communities. It also addresses removing barriers for opportunity youth seeking ways to gain skills before having obtained a college degree. The Governor has a goal to serve 500,000 apprentices by 2029.

    Recent news

    Jun 24, 2025

    News What you need to know: Three years after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Governor Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom warn that Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” would defund Planned Parenthood and strip millions of Americans — especially low-income women —…

    Jun 24, 2025

    News What you need to know: Despite the Newsom Administration’s efforts to increase groundwater and develop stronger partnerships with water agencies, California’s water system remains unprepared for the hotter and drier future. Without the successful completion of…

    Jun 24, 2025

    News What you need to know: President Trump’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles continues to hamstring crucial firefighting resources in California at the height of peak fire season. SACRAMENTO – With fires popping up across the state, the California National…

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Schatz: Nobody Wants Republican Tax Bill That Will Hurt Millions Of Americans, Still Time To Stop It

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Hawaii Brian Schatz
    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) spoke on the Senate floor today to warn Senate Republicans against passing a tax plan that would kick more than 16 million Americans off of health insurance, raise monthly health care and energy costs across the country, and slash nutritional assistance for those in need – all in order to cut taxes for billionaires. He highlighted the voices of Americans in red states imploring their representatives to preserve Medicaid which is a lifeline for tens of millions of people across the country.
    “The stakes are clear. It’s people’s health. It’s people’s hard-earned money. It is people’s lives,” said Senator Schatz. “And whether you’re in a red or a blue state, you will absolutely feel the weight of this terrible piece of legislation. More than a quarter of nursing homes may close. Hundreds of rural hospitals will shutter. And for what? To pay down the debt? Because we’re a nation at war? Because we want to invest in infrastructure or schools or health care? No. The reason they are making these cuts to food assistance. The reason they are making these cuts to rural hospitals. The reason they are making these cuts so that people are going to have to pay several hundred dollars more per month for their own health care, is to create enough revenue for the biggest tax cut – the biggest wealth transfer from working people to wealthy people in the history of the United States of America.”
    Senator Schatz continued, “Now, the good news is this: we actually don’t have to do this. There is no rush to do this. There is no clamoring among constituents in red or blue states to do this. But it’s going to require four Republicans saying enough is enough.”
    The full text of Senator Schatz’s remarks is below. Video is available here.
    More than 16 million people are going to lose their health care, and tens of millions of Americans are going to pay more for health care every month. Hundreds of rural hospitals are going to be forced to close, and we are going to plunge the country into trillions of dollars of new debt.
    Now, what is this all for? Is it to improve our schools and roads? Is it to make housing and child care more affordable? Is it because we’re in the middle of a crisis that just has to be paid for, or we’re going to pay down the national debt? No, it’s none of those things. It’s because they want to cut taxes for the richest people to ever exist. And if that means that you can’t see your doctor, or you have to pay hundreds of dollars more every month to pay for your health care. Tough luck.
    Now, here’s the thing. Republicans actually know what they are walking into because people in their own states are telling them what’s about to happen.
    “We can’t sustain serving our community the way we are with these cuts,” one hospital leader in Kansas said.
    A health executive in Texas wrote, “Cutting billions of dollars from Medicaid would have widespread and devastating consequences for Texans. Beyond the obvious impacts to people enrolled in the program, the collateral damage to the program will be felt across the board. Hospitals will do everything they can to weather the storm, but some may not survive. Others will have to increase their reliance on state or local support or reduced services. Access to care will decrease, especially for high cost service lines like maternal health care and behavioral health. Jobs will be lost. The impact on communities which rely on their hospitals for employment and for growth will be profound.”
    A Utah father who credited Medicaid with saving his own son’s life said, “Without Medicaid, these lifesaving treatments would have been financially impossible. There is absolutely no way we would have covered the costs on our own. And in this way, our story is not unique. So many families insured by Medicaid could have to make difficult, life altering decisions if Congress slashes funding.”
    And a former Republican elected official in Georgia warned, “Cuts to Medicaid are not only fiscally irresponsible, but they could threaten the livelihoods of our fellow Georgians and the economic opportunities that consistently make our great state a top state for business.”
    So the stakes are clear. It’s people’s health. It’s people’s hard-earned money. It is people’s lives. And whether you’re in a red or a blue state, you will absolutely feel the weight of this terrible piece of legislation. More than a quarter of nursing homes may close. Hundreds of rural hospitals will shutter. And for what? To pay down the debt? Because we’re a nation at war? Because we want to invest in infrastructure or schools or health care? No. The reason they are making these cuts to food assistance, the reason they are making these cuts to rural hospitals, the reason they are making these cuts so that people are going to have to pay several hundred dollars more per month for their own health care, is to create enough revenue for the biggest tax cut, the biggest wealth transfer from working people to wealthy people in the history of the United States of America.
    Even if you’re not on Medicaid yourself, you likely know someone who is – a friend, a neighbor, a relative, a coworker. And more than that, kicking tons of people in your community off of health care will drive up costs for everybody else and make high quality care hard to find. You are going to pay more for less care – all for the biggest tax cut in American history for the people who need it the least.
    And I have no problem with the people who need it the least. But the truth is they need it the least. If you are financially successful and you make $4 million a year, God bless. It’s the American dream. It does not mean you need a tax cut. And it does not mean you need a tax cut paid for by reducing services, especially in rural communities.
    Now, the good news is this: we actually don’t have to do this. There is no rush to do this. There is no clamoring among constituents in red or blue states to do this. This is an add on. What they wanted to do is extend the original Trump tax cuts. Now, I oppose those tax cuts, but I can understand Republicans, as a sort of article of faith, want to extend the tax cuts that their president enacted two terms ago. Fair enough. Good, solid old-fashioned policy disagreements. But then they just larded it up with stuff giveaways to special interests and cuts and cuts and cuts to things that people care about left, right and center. And so we don’t actually have to do it this way.
    You’re going to pay more for less care, all so that billionaires just have a little more money sitting in their accounts. It’s going to require four Republicans saying enough is enough. And I’ve heard a number of my Republican colleagues talk about how essential Medicaid is to their rural communities. And it’s not just the people who are on Medicaid, obviously, those are the people you got to be primarily concerned with. But a lot of us go home and visit both urban and rural hospitals, and they all say the same thing, which is that if you blow out like 30 percent of your revenue, you can’t function as an institution. So it’s not just a question of whether you personally are on Medicaid or you personally care about Medicaid. It’s about does your rural hospital even survive after this bill is enacted?
    Nobody wants this. And there is still time to kill this bill.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Casten, Beatty, Kiggans Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Empower Women in Abusive Situations

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Sean Casten (IL-06)

    June 24, 2025

    Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representatives Sean Casten (D-IL-06), Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03), and Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02) introduced the bipartisan Financial Empowerment and Protection Act, legislation to remove barriers to the financial insights often necessary for people to leave abusive relationships safely.

    “Far too often, we hear of victims of abuse who feel trapped in their situation due to limited or no insight into their household finances,” said Congressman Casten. “This bipartisan legislation, which came out of one such story from a constituent who called my office, aims to take away that lever of control from an abuser, empowering women in these situations to make their own financial decisions.”

    “Financial control is often used to trap victims of abuse and prevent them from moving forward,” said Congresswoman Beatty. “This critical legislation puts power back in the hands of women and men in abusive situations, ensuring equal access to and control over shared household finances. Every individual deserves financial transparency in their romantic relationships, along with the tools to live independently. I’m proud to join Congressman Casten in advancing this bill to empower couples with equal financial rights so that everyone has the freedom to live a secure, independent life if they so choose.”

    “Financial control is one of the most common—and devastating—tools used by abusers to trap their victims,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “When someone can’t access the bills in their own home or the accounts they rely on for housing or childcare, it becomes nearly impossible to leave safely. The Financial Empowerment and Protection Act takes meaningful, bipartisan action to fix that. By ensuring equal access to shared household accounts and removing penalties for leaving unsafe housing, this bill gives survivors a real chance to reclaim their independence and start fresh.”

    “Survivors of domestic violence deserve safety, financial stability and broader economic security. As the Trump Administration attempts to defund programs for survivors in its war on diversity, equity, and inclusion, maintaining their access to shared accounts, such as utility and mortgage accounts, is just one way survivors can preserve their economic well-being. Providing survivors with the ability to sever rental agreements without further financial penalties in the event of violence supports survivors’ ability to seek safety,” said Sharita Gruberg, vice president of the economic justice team at the National Partnership for Women & Families. “The Financial Empowerment and Protection Act would give power back to survivors by providing them with the tools to regain or retain their independence. We are grateful to Representatives Casten, Beatty, and Kiggans for their tremendous efforts to support survivors and their families.”

    “Too often, survivors fear the financial repercussions of their decision to leave—and every survivor trapped by an abuser deserves the chance to break free,” said Stefan Turkheimer, Vice President for Public Policy at RAINN. “The Financial Empowerment and Protection Act will change lives by offering survivors a way out. RAINN is proud to support this bipartisan effort, which provides protections—like equal access to joint accounts and relief from lease termination penalties when fleeing abuse—that help remove barriers to safety and security.”

    Under the Financial Empowerment and Protection Act, mortgage lenders, landlords, utility providers, and childcare providers would be required to offer joint accounts for cohabitating or co-parenting couples. 

    Oftentimes, abusive partners use financial limitations as a method of control to prevent a victim from leaving the situation. This means that people leaving abusive relationships may have limited access to pay their own bills and may lose access to housing and childcare. Domestic violence shelters report that information about these accounts is commonly withheld during the dissolution of abusive relationships. 

    The Financial Empowerment and Protection Act would circumvent this, allowing victims equal insight into their household finances.

    This bill is endorsed by the National Organization for Women, the National Partnership for Women & Families, and RAINN.

    Text of the legislation can be found here. A section-by-section summary of the legislation can be found here.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warnock, Colleagues Lead Effort to Create Increased Pathways to Legal Permanent Residency for Families Fleeing Turmoil

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia

    Warnock, Colleagues Lead Effort to Create Increased Pathways to Legal Permanent Residency for Families Fleeing Turmoil

    The SECURE Act provides long-term stability for temporary protected status (TPS) and deferred enforced departure (DED) recipients by giving them the ability to apply for legal permanent residency

    The SECURE Act comes as the Trump administration continues to levy attacks against TPS and DED individuals

    There are more than 41,000 TPS holders in Georgia

    Senator Reverend Warnock: “All people no matter where they were born deserve just as much respect and compassion as we’d show to anyone else”

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Senate Democrats introduced the Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and Emergency (SECURE) Act. The legislation would create a pathway for TPS and DED recipients by giving them the ability to apply for legal permanent residency.

    “As a pastor I believe every human being has dignity,”     said Senator Reverend Warnock. “All people no matter where they are born deserve just as much respect and compassion as we’d show anyone else. I’ll continue to be an advocate for the immigrant community in Georgia, and I won’t stop fighting in Washington for the policies we need to ensure all of our loved ones, friends, and neighbors can live full lives free from fear of persecution and deportation.”

    TPS is a temporary, legal immigration status granted to individuals who are endangered by conditions in their home country resulting from extraordinary events such as ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or epidemic. TPS status is granted for set periods ranging from six to 18 months, requiring the Department of Homeland Security to extend a country’s status on a recurring basis. Recent estimates found there are approximately 41,000 people with TPS in Georgia.

    Deferred enforced departure (DED) is a temporary and discretionary administrative stay of removal granted to foreign citizens from designated countries. Unlike TPS, a DED designation emanates from the President’s constitutional powers to conduct foreign relations and has no statutory basis. 

    Since coming to the Senate, Senator Warnock has been a vocal proponent of fixing the nation’s immigration system through comprehensive immigration reform, and a strong supporter of Georgia’s vibrant immigrant communities. To that end, Senator Warnock has advocated for legislation to provide a legal pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and has supported measures to strengthen funding for border security and fentanyl screening.

    In addition to Senators Warnock and Van Hollen, the legislation was introduced by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ) Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Edward Markey (D-MA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Mark Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

    The bill text for the SECURE Act is HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Smith Statement on Trump Ordering U.S. Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Adam Smith (9th District of Washington)

    WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement in response to President Trump ordering the U.S. military to conduct military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
     
    “I condemn in the strongest terms the President’s decision to order the U.S. military to strike Iran’s nuclear sites. The President did not seek authorization from Congress or demonstrate that Iran posed an immediate threat to the security of the United States. Furthermore, the President failed to provide clear objectives for these actions and there are no guarantees that it will eliminate the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon or how long it might set their program back.
     
    “Engaging in direct conflict places U.S. service members and military sites in the Middle East squarely in the crosshairs of Iran and its many proxies. Tonight’s actions could further escalate tensions, destabilize the region, and drag the United States into an avoidable war.

    “The way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and to protect American service members is through diplomacy and negotiation, not entering into direct conflict. The path that the President has chosen risks unleashing a wider war in the region that is both incredibly unpredictable and treacherous and that threatens the safety and security of the United States, Israel, and ultimately the world.”

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Cherfilus-McCormick and Wasserman Schultz Lead Florida Democrats in Urging NOAA Restoration Ahead of Hurricane Season

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Florida 20th district))

    Washington, D.C. ─ Today, Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) led the Florida Democratic delegation in urging Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to reverse recent staffing cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS) as Florida enters hurricane season.

    Due to the Trump-era DOGE initiative, NOAA has laid off approximately 20% of its workforce—including 9% of the NWS staff. These sweeping reductions come at a dangerous time, undermining the ability of meteorologists to monitor and respond to severe weather. The cuts have resulted in delayed weather balloon launches, critical staffing shortages at Gulf Coast NWS offices, and the elimination of overnight shifts—jeopardizing the timely delivery of life-saving storm tracking data.

    “These sudden firings at NOAA and NWS directly endanger the health and safety of my constituents and all Floridians,” said Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20). “Florida is one of the most hurricane-prone states in the nation. Our families, emergency responders, and local governments rely on NOAA and NWS for accurate, real-time information. Slashing these agencies just as storm season begins is both reckless and dangerous. I’m proud to stand with my Florida colleagues in demanding these job cuts be reversed immediately.”

    “The Trump Administration’s cruel, short-sighted decision to push out NOAA’s critical weather forecasters, data scientists, and storm modelers – just weeks before hurricane season – shows a callous disregard for the safety of all Floridians,” said Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25). “These are the very experts whose work guides local officials, emergency managers, and families on when to evacuate, when to seek shelter, and how to protect their homes and businesses. Cutting them loose is not just short-sighted, it’s dangerous.”

    “The beginning of Hurricane season always stirs a rush into the hearts of South Floridians, especially many of the coastal communities I represent,” said Congresswoman Fredrica Wilson (FL-24). “The firings at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are nothing short of outrageous and reckless—especially for South Florida, which sits on the frontlines of hurricane season year after year. When a storm is brewing, families across our region turn to these centers and services for real-time updates, life-saving alerts, and clear guidance on how to stay safe. Who does this administration expect residents to turn to in these moments of crisis if we allow the very institutions that safeguard us to be gutted? These firings only weaken our emergency response, undermine public safety, and leave Florida more vulnerable at the exact moment we should be strengthening our defenses.”

    “We are deeply alarmed by the recent workforce cuts at NOAA and the National Weather Service under the DOGE initiative,” said Congressman Darren Soto (FL-09). “These reductions pose an unacceptable risk to hurricane preparedness and emergency response efforts in Florida. With our state facing increasingly severe and frequent storms, we cannot afford to weaken our frontline defense. All cuts to NOAA and NWS must be immediately reversed, and hiring freezes lifted to ensure Florida communities remain protected and informed.”

    “When I was Director of Emergency Management in Florida, I saw firsthand the critical role that NOAA and the National Weather Service play preparing for hurricanes and other disasters,” said Congressman Jared Moskowitz (FL-23). “Putting these agencies at risk puts public safety at risk. That’s why I introduced bipartisan legislation to fill critical vacancies at NOAA and the NWS, and it’s why I’m proud to join my Florida colleagues pushing to lift hiring freezes and restore all cuts at the agencies. With hurricane season already here, Florida can’t afford for NOAA and the National Weather Service to be anything but fully equipped with what they need.”

    “Hurricane season already is dangerous and anxiety-inducing enough without Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts undermining the resources and specialists we rely on to keep Floridians safe,” said Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14). “Gutting NOAA and NWS, cutting forecasters and grounding hurricane hunters leaves our communities vulnerable and uninformed while storms grow more frequent, more severe and more costly. Sec. Lutnick rightfully acknowledged the Trump Administration’s grave error in haphazardly firing essential NOAA and NWS workers. However, much more must be done to lower the risks and costs of the climate crisis and the extreme events tied to it. Firing essential problem-solvers and public servants ends up costing Floridians more.” 

    Read the full letter here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reps. Cherfilus-McCormick and Wasserman Schultz Lead Florida Democrats in Urging NOAA Restoration Ahead of Hurricane Season

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Florida 20th district))

    Washington, D.C. ─ Today, Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) led the Florida Democratic delegation in urging Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to reverse recent staffing cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS) as Florida enters hurricane season.

    Due to the Trump-era DOGE initiative, NOAA has laid off approximately 20% of its workforce—including 9% of the NWS staff. These sweeping reductions come at a dangerous time, undermining the ability of meteorologists to monitor and respond to severe weather. The cuts have resulted in delayed weather balloon launches, critical staffing shortages at Gulf Coast NWS offices, and the elimination of overnight shifts—jeopardizing the timely delivery of life-saving storm tracking data.

    “These sudden firings at NOAA and NWS directly endanger the health and safety of my constituents and all Floridians,” said Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20). “Florida is one of the most hurricane-prone states in the nation. Our families, emergency responders, and local governments rely on NOAA and NWS for accurate, real-time information. Slashing these agencies just as storm season begins is both reckless and dangerous. I’m proud to stand with my Florida colleagues in demanding these job cuts be reversed immediately.”

    “The Trump Administration’s cruel, short-sighted decision to push out NOAA’s critical weather forecasters, data scientists, and storm modelers – just weeks before hurricane season – shows a callous disregard for the safety of all Floridians,” said Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25). “These are the very experts whose work guides local officials, emergency managers, and families on when to evacuate, when to seek shelter, and how to protect their homes and businesses. Cutting them loose is not just short-sighted, it’s dangerous.”

    “The beginning of Hurricane season always stirs a rush into the hearts of South Floridians, especially many of the coastal communities I represent,” said Congresswoman Fredrica Wilson (FL-24). “The firings at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are nothing short of outrageous and reckless—especially for South Florida, which sits on the frontlines of hurricane season year after year. When a storm is brewing, families across our region turn to these centers and services for real-time updates, life-saving alerts, and clear guidance on how to stay safe. Who does this administration expect residents to turn to in these moments of crisis if we allow the very institutions that safeguard us to be gutted? These firings only weaken our emergency response, undermine public safety, and leave Florida more vulnerable at the exact moment we should be strengthening our defenses.”

    “We are deeply alarmed by the recent workforce cuts at NOAA and the National Weather Service under the DOGE initiative,” said Congressman Darren Soto (FL-09). “These reductions pose an unacceptable risk to hurricane preparedness and emergency response efforts in Florida. With our state facing increasingly severe and frequent storms, we cannot afford to weaken our frontline defense. All cuts to NOAA and NWS must be immediately reversed, and hiring freezes lifted to ensure Florida communities remain protected and informed.”

    “When I was Director of Emergency Management in Florida, I saw firsthand the critical role that NOAA and the National Weather Service play preparing for hurricanes and other disasters,” said Congressman Jared Moskowitz (FL-23). “Putting these agencies at risk puts public safety at risk. That’s why I introduced bipartisan legislation to fill critical vacancies at NOAA and the NWS, and it’s why I’m proud to join my Florida colleagues pushing to lift hiring freezes and restore all cuts at the agencies. With hurricane season already here, Florida can’t afford for NOAA and the National Weather Service to be anything but fully equipped with what they need.”

    “Hurricane season already is dangerous and anxiety-inducing enough without Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts undermining the resources and specialists we rely on to keep Floridians safe,” said Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14). “Gutting NOAA and NWS, cutting forecasters and grounding hurricane hunters leaves our communities vulnerable and uninformed while storms grow more frequent, more severe and more costly. Sec. Lutnick rightfully acknowledged the Trump Administration’s grave error in haphazardly firing essential NOAA and NWS workers. However, much more must be done to lower the risks and costs of the climate crisis and the extreme events tied to it. Firing essential problem-solvers and public servants ends up costing Floridians more.” 

    Read the full letter here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Prevents the Largest Tax Hike in History and Unleashes Economic Growth

    US Senate News:

    Source: US Whitehouse
    THE ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL DELIVERS FOR THE AMERICAN WORKER: The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers the largest tax cut for working- and middle-class Americans in history. Put simply, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will unleash our economy and deliver a Blue-Collar BOOM.
    Bigger Paychecks: Hardworking Americans and families will see an average increase in take-home pay of OVER $10,000 per year.
    Historic Tax Relief for Workers: 15% tax cut for Americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 per year.
    No Taxes on Overtime or Tips: Saves overtime and tipped workers nearly $2,000 annually.
    Historic Tax Breaks for Seniors: Introduces unprecedented financial relief for seniors.
    Made-in-America Tax Breaks: Interest deduction for loans on new American-made vehicles.
    Large Standard Deduction: Keeps the doubled standard deduction used by 91% of taxpayers, ensuring taxpayers keep more of their money with a simpler tax break.
    Provides Historic Relief for Working Families
    Bolsters Child Tax Credit: Increases and makes permanent the child tax credit, supporting over 40 million families.
    Supports Working Families: Expands childcare access and makes the paid leave tax credit permanent.
    Establishes Trump Investment Accounts for Newborns: Creates savings accounts to secure financial futures for every American child from birth.
    Improves Housing Affordability: Expands the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to incentivize the construction of affordable homes for American families.
    Supports Family Farms: Raises death tax exemption, Increasing the amount family farms can inherit without paying taxes—protecting two million family farms from excessive taxation.
    Empowers School Choices: Enhances 529 savings accounts to make education affordable and empower American families and students to choose the education that best fits their needs.
    Drives Economic Growth Through America First Tax Policies
    Incentivizes Made-in-America Manufacturing: Full expensing for new factories and improvements to unleash domestic production.
    Expands Opportunity Zones: Permanently renews program, unlocking $100B+ for rural and distressed communities.
    Boosts American Businesses: The bill delivers full 100% expensing for new factories, equipment, and machinery.
    Puts Main Street Over Wall Street
    Promotes Growth: Helps small businesses keep more money by making permanent—and enhancing—the small business tax deduction, making it easier to grow and hire.
    Doubles Small Business Expensing: Raises the limit for small businesses to immediately deduct up to $2.5 million in equipment and property costs, helping them hire more workers and expand.
    President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill lowers tax rates to keep more money in Americans’ pockets—PREVENTING THE LARGEST TAX HIKE IN HISTORY.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: DeGette Statement on Third Anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Ruling

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Diana DeGette (First District of Colorado)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-01), Co-Chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, released the following statement on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

    “Three years ago today, the Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of stripping Americans of a constitutional right it had previously guaranteed, ending nearly 50 years of legal precedent by dismantling Roe v. Wade.

    “Just last month, under the orders of Donald Trump, House Republicans voted to defund Planned Parenthood. The Big Ugly Bill he’s trying to force through Congress would block Medicaid reimbursements to its health centers and ban abortion coverage on ACA plans—moves that would create chaos in the insurance market. These policies would devastate access to care for over one million Medicaid recipients who rely on Planned Parenthood each year, slashing access to maternity care, birth control, cancer screenings, and more.

    “This is only the latest attack. Over the past three years, 20 states have enacted abortion bans, leaving millions of people without access to essential care. And we’ve seen patients forced to travel hundreds of miles across state lines, facing delays and uncertainty. In my home state of Colorado—a critical haven for care in the Mountain West—we’ve seen one of the largest increases in out-of-state patients in the country. Our clinics are strained, providers are overwhelmed, and our constituents are facing longer wait times for basic reproductive care.

    “As Co-Chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, I refuse to let this extremist vision go unchallenged. I’m proud to lead the fight in Congress to restore the protections of Roe through the Women’s Health Protection Act—a landmark bill that would ensure the right to abortion nationwide, regardless of your ZIP code.

    “I stand with the majority of Americans who believe health care decisions should be made by patients and their doctors, not politicians, not judges, and not a radical minority trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. We will not stop until every person—no matter who they are or where they live—has the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions.”

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: DeGette Statement on Military Actions in Middle East

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Diana DeGette (First District of Colorado)

    DENVER, CO — Today, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-01) released the following statement after Donald Trump announced that the United States carried out military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

    “Donald Trump’s unauthorized strike against Iran is an act of war that requires Congressional approval. He did not come to Congress to explain his reasons for bombing a sovereign nation and to seek authorization for these strikes. These reckless actions are going to put the lives of American servicemembers and American citizens at risk.

    “Additionally, these unconstitutional strikes threaten to expand conflict and further destabilize an already vulnerable region. The United States must now put its full diplomatic strength behind finding a peaceful resolution to this conflict. I am cosponsoring the war powers resolution in the House, and the administration must brief Congress as soon as possible.” 

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congresswoman Torres Leads Amendments to protect Americans’ Privacy, Ensure Safe Baby Formula, and Address the Threat of Bird Flu

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Norma Torres (35th District of California)

    June 24, 2025

    Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, Congresswoman Norma Torres led three amendments during the Appropriations Committee Markup of the FY2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies Bill, offering critical amendments to safeguard tens of millions of Americans’ personal information from DOGE and protect the public servants who work to ensure the safety and supply of infant formula and address the ongoing threat of bird flu from the indiscriminate and lawless firings implemented by the Trump Administration and DOGE.  

    “I voted against this bill, which, like so much of what the Trump Administration and Republicans have been pushing, throws families and children under the bus, and in this case, our farmers and agricultural communities, too. The bill recklessly cuts vital programs that support our farmers and help hardworking families put food on the table, all under the hypocritical reasoning of “responsible spending” as Republicans push for trillions in tax breaks to billionaires,” said Congresswoman Torres. “But Republicans also rejected three amendments I led that aimed to improve the bill, from protecting Americans’ privacy from DOGE, protecting those who work tirelessly to ensure infant formula that many mothers rely on is safe, and ensuring the Trump Administration and DOGE can’t recklessly fire these critical public servants.”

    The House Republican FY26 Agriculture-FDA Appropriations bill cuts overall funding by more than $1 billion, underfunding programs that support farmers and ranchers, lower costs for consumers, and help families put food on the table.

    For example, the Republican bill underfunds the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which helps pregnant mothers and babies not only access free healthy foods, but also receive breastfeeding support, nutrition education, and connects mothers with resources like medical, dental, and mental healthcare. On top of this, the bill included an additional 10% cut on WIC benefits for fruits and vegetables, making it harder for women and children to have access to healthy, nutritious foods. The bill also cuts rural wastewater funding, even though many communities in California struggle with water issues. 

    Congresswoman Torres led three amendments to help improve the bill that Republicans rejected: 

    No Sharing Personal Information with DOGE: This amendment prohibits agencies from sharing personally identifiable information with DOGE. It protects the privacy of tens of millions of Americans by preventing USDA, FDA, and other covered agencies from providing sensitive data to DOGE, safeguarding families’ personal information from unnecessary exposure.

    No Infant Formula Employee Firings: This amendment prohibits the firing of employees who work to ensure the safety and supply of infant formula. Congresswoman Torres is committed to protecting the dedicated public servants at the FDA who work tirelessly to maintain a safe, reliable supply of infant formula for families and babies nationwide.

    No Bird Flu Employee Firings: This amendment protects employees working on bird flu (also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza or HPAI) issues by prohibiting their dismissal. Bird flu continues to threaten poultry, livestock, and frontline workers, and these employees play a crucial role in addressing this ongoing threat. As of June 20, 38 of the 70 human cases in America have occurred in California.

    “These amendments reflect my commitment to protecting families’ privacy, ensuring the safety of mothers and babies, and defending our communities against bird flu. We must prioritize funding for programs that prevent families from going hungry, safeguard our food supply, and invest in our communities — not fund tax breaks for billionaires.”

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Pressley Marks Third Somber Anniversary of Dobbs Decision, Reaffirms Commitment to Abortion Justice

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)

    Pressley Repro Caucus, Dem. Leadership to Hold a Presser Today to Mark Three Years Since the Disastrous Dobbs Decision

    Pressley Convening Leaders, Fighting for Reproductive Freedom, and Uplifting Abortion Storytellers

    WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Co-Chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, issued the following statement marking the third anniversary of the devastating Dobbs decision that dismantled the right to abortion care in America. Later today, Rep. Pressley will join House Democratic Leadership for a press conference to mark the somber anniversary and renew her calls for comprehensive legislation to protect abortion and expand access to reproductive healthcare.

    Congresswoman Pressley will spend the week convening leaders and impacted families, renewing her calls for comprehensive legislation to protect and restore abortion care in America, and uplifting the experiences of people impacted by cruel abortion bans and denials of essential medical care.

    “Three years ago today, the Supreme Court denied us our bodily autonomy and ripped away the fundamental right to abortion care in this country. Since that cruel decision, we have witnessed devastating and deadly consequences for patients across the nation. Abortion bans are denying families basic medical care. The Black maternal health crisis has worsened drastically. Republicans’ attacks on our basic reproductive freedom are a risk to every person who calls this country home and have disproportionately impacted our Black, brown, immigrant, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities.

    “Now, we face a hostile Administration doubling down on ripping away essential healthcare. Trump and Republicans are pushing their Big, Ugly Bill—cruel legislation that would destroy Medicaid as we know it, defund Planned Parenthood health centers, ban abortion coverage in private insurance plans on the ACA marketplace, and put essential care further out of reach for millions.

    “This unjust and worsening status quo is not an inevitability. Today, we recommit not only to protecting and defending reproductive healthcare, but to advancing an affirmative vision for a just America where abortion justice is realized and everyone—no matter their zip code, income, or immigration status—can access the care they need with dignity in their own community. That means stopping Republicans’ reconciliation bill in its tracks, and advancing, comprehensive policies like my Abortion Justice Act, the Women’s Health Protection Act, and the EACH Act to protect and expand abortion access and affirm our fundamental rights.”

    “As we mark this somber anniversary, I look forward to partnering with Co-Chair DeGette and our colleagues of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus to affirm our commitment to using every tool we have to protect and restore access to abortion care, center impacted families, and continue building the more just America our constituents demand and deserve.”

    Yesterday, Rep. Pressley and Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rep. Lori Trahan (MA-03) joined Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts President Dominique Lee for a press conference in solidarity with Planned Parenthood as they collectively fight to stop Republicans’ latest attack on reproductive freedom in the GOP’s Big, Ugly Bill.

    Today, Congresswoman Pressley will meet with abortion storytellers from Massachusetts, join the Reproductive Freedom Caucus and House Democratic Leadership for a press conference marking the somber Dobbs Anniversary, and join members of the Tri-Caucus for a bicameral convening with abortion storytellers led by Rep. Jennifer McClellan and the Reproductive Freedom Caucus.

    On Wednesday, June 25, Congresswoman Pressley will participate in a Freedom for All panel discussion, and join the Reproductive Freedom Caucus for a virtual roundtable on how we can legislate to protect abortion care as the necessary essential healthcare that it is.

    On Thursday, June 26, Congresswoman Pressley, the Reproductive Freedom Caucus and the Democratic Women’s Caucus will lead a shadow hearing on reproductive healthcare in America.

    Media interested in covering any of the events above can email Pressley.Press@mail.house.gov.

    Congresswoman Pressley has been outspoken in demanding justice for Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old pregnant mother who was declared brain dead in February and was forced to remain on life support due to Georgia’s abortion ban. Rep. Pressley delivered an impassioned floor speech in which she underscored that Adriana’s case is far too common in the unjust history of denying Black women their dignity, humanity, and right to bodily autonomy – and that GOP abortion bans such as Georgia’s deepen this pain and bar critical healthcare freedom. Last week, Rep. Pressley issued a statement after Adriana’s infant son Chance was delivered via emergency Cesarean section and Adriana was taken off life support.

    Throughout her time in Congress, Rep. Pressley has fought persistently to protect fundamental reproductive and sexual healthcare rights. 

    • On the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Rep. Pressley introduced the Abortion Justice Act, sweeping, intersectional legislation to address access to abortion care and put forth a comprehensive vision of a just America where abortion care is readily available—without stigma, shame or systemic barriers—for all who seek it, regardless of zip code, immigration status, income, or background.
    • Rep. Pressley is a lead co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral federal legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion care, everywhere. 
    • Rep. Pressley is also a lead co-sponsor of the EACH Act, bold legislation to repeal the Hyde Amendment and help guarantee abortion coverage—regardless of how a patient gets their health insurance.
    • Shortly before the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Rep. Pressley led a group of her Black women colleagues in writing to President Biden urging him to declare a public health emergency amid the unprecedented threats to abortion rights nationwide. 
    • Rep. Pressley condemned the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade., and implored the Senate to protect abortion rights and slammed the white supremacist roots of anti-abortion efforts.
    • In October 2024, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on Josseli Barnica, who died on Sept. 3, 2021 after being denied emergency abortion care in Texas as she suffered a miscarriage.
    • In September 2024, in a House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee Hearing, Rep. Pressley highlighted the harmful and deadly impact of abortion bans in America to date, and outlined in detail the shameful circumstances under which Amber Nicole Thurman died after being denied necessary abortion care in Georgia.
    • In June 2024, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Idaho v. United States; Moyle v. United States – the case about whether emergency abortion care is included under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). 
    • In May 2024, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on a Louisiana bill that would classify medication abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances. 
    • In April 2024, at a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Pressley played “Fact or Fiction” with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf to emphasize the safety and efficacy of medication abortion drug mifepristone.
    • In August 2023, Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the Fifth Circuit Court decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.
    • In July 2023, Rep. Pressley, alongside Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Rep. Cori Bush (MO-01), and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), reintroduced the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act, legislation to help people with disabilities—who face discrimination and extra barriers when seeking care—get better access to reproductive healthcare and the informed care they need to control their own reproductive lives.
    • In July 2023, Rep. Pressley applauded the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of over-the-counter birth control.
    • In May 2023, Rep. Pressley applauded the FDA Advisory Committee’s unanimous, 17-0 vote to recommend the approval of the first-ever application for over-the-counter birth control. She and Senator Murray also held a press conference applauding the decision and urging the FDA to approval over-the-counter birth control without delay.
    • In May 2023, Rep. Pressley, along with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Ami Bera, MD (CA-06) and Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), reintroduced their bicameral Affordability is Access Act to ensure that once the FDA determines an over-the-counter birth control option to be safe, insurers fully cover over-the-counter birth control without any fees or out-of-pocket costs.
    • In April 2023, Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning the Texas court ruling on mifepristone, and discussed the Texas case in a recent floor speech in which she affirmed medication abortion as routine medical care and access to mifepristone as essential. She later joined Governor Maura Healey, Senator Elizabth Warren (D-MA), and local leaders in announcing action to protect Mifepristone in Massachusetts.
    • In March 2023, Rep. Pressley, along with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Reps. Schakowsky, Lee, DeGette, Torres and Strickland, reintroduced the Abortion is Healthcare Everywhere Act harmful and discriminatory Helms Amendment and expand abortion access globally.
    • In March 2023, Rep. Pressley and Senator Hirono led their colleagues in reintroducing a bicameral congressional resolution honoring abortion providers and clinic staff. 
    • In March 2023, Rep. Pressley delivered a speech in which she discussed the pending court case in Texas, which aims to restrict access to medication abortion across the entire nation. In her remarks, Rep. Pressley affirmed medication abortion as routine medical care, and accessibility to the abortion pill mifepristone as essential.
    • In September 2021, Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s inaction on SB-8, Texas’ restrictive abortion law. Later that month, she participated in a House Oversight Committee hearing to examine the threat posed by abortion bans and underscored the urgency of the Senate passing the Women’s Health Protection Act. 
    • In April 2021, Rep. Pressley, along with Congresswomen Barbara Lee (CA-13), Diana DeGette (CO-01) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), led a group of 131 Democratic members in reintroducing the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act or the EACH Act, which would repeal the Hyde Amendment and ensure that all people, regardless of income, insurance or zip code, can make personal reproductive healthcare decisions without interference from politicians. She re-Introduced the legislation In January 2023.
    • Rep. Pressley has led calls in Congress for the FDA to remove medically unnecessary restrictions on the medication abortion drug mifepristone, and applauded the FDA’s action in January 2023 to allow retail pharmacies to dispense abortion medication pills.
    • As Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’s Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, Congresswoman Pressley has led the fight to repeal the Hyde Amendments from annual Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bills and in July 2020 published a Medium post on the importance of doing so. She applauded the removal of the Hyde Amendment in President Biden’s FY2022 budget.
    • In May 2020, she led more than 155 Members of Congress in calling on House Democratic leadership to ensure that any future COVID-19 relief packages rejected Republican efforts to use the public health crisis to diminish abortion access.
    • In August 2021, Rep. Pressley, Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, and Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Diana DeGette and Barbara Lee led more than 70 of their House Democratic colleagues in introducing a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion care. 
    • In January 2023, Rep. Pressley introduced a resolution to condemn all forms of political violence in the U.S., regardless of its target or intent. That same day, she delivered a powerful speech on the House floor slamming Republicans’ harmful, misleading anti-abortion resolution.
    • In September 2022, Rep. Pressley hosted U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra at the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester for a convening on their work to address the Black maternal health crisis and the criminalization of abortion care in states across the nation following the harmful U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. 
    • In May 2019, she led more than 100 colleagues in introducing H.Con.Res.40, a resolution reaffirming the House of Representative’s support for Roe v. Wade.
    • In June 2019, Rep. Pressley introduced H.R. 3296, the Affordability is Access Act, to make oral contraception available without a prescription. 
    • In September 2016, as a member of the Boston City Council, Pressley championed a resolution calling on Congress and President Obama to repeal the Hyde Amendment and reinstate insurance coverage for abortion services.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Ranking Member Huffman Statement on ‘Roadless Rule’ Rescission

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California

    June 23, 2025

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) released the following statement:

    “Once again, President Trump is launching a dangerous attack on our public lands. This disastrous decision puts millions of acres of forests on the chopping block to serve his billionaire cronies in the mining and logging industries. By rolling back the popular “Roadless Rule,” the Trump administration is putting corporate profits over the long-term health of our national forests and the communities that depend on them.

    “This reckless move opens the floodgates for clear-cut logging, road-building, and mining in some of our last untouched forests — threatening clean drinking water for millions, accelerating the climate crisis by destroying vital carbon sinks, and trampling on the rights of Tribes and local communities. Our national forests are not mere woodlots; they are invaluable natural treasures that safeguard clean water, preserve critical wildlife habitat, and provide essential spaces for recreation and solace.

    “Americans and future generations deserve healthy forests, clean water, and a livable climate — not the wreckage left behind by Trump’s reckless giveaways. We will not let this stand.”

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    Previous Article

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Three years after the end of Roe, Governor Newsom, First Partner sound the alarm on Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” plan to defund Planned Parenthood

    Source: US State of California Governor

    Jun 24, 2025

    What you need to know: Three years after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Governor Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom warn that Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” would defund Planned Parenthood and strip millions of Americans — especially low-income women — of access to basic reproductive care.

    SACRAMENTO – Three years ago today, the extreme conservative supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion care in this country by overturning Roe v. Wade. Following the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, conservative states across the U.S. passed crushing abortion bans and Republican leaders began working to eliminate access to other reproductive rights, including contraceptives, Mifepristone, and even IVF. Governor Newsom also warned that President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” would effectively defund Planned Parenthood.

    “Conservative majorities – from the United States Congress to red states across the country – continue their attacks on reproductive freedom, empowered by the President and Secretary of HHS. Now, they’re trying once again to defund Planned Parenthood and make it even harder for low-income people to get basic health care. In California, we will always fight to protect access to care so those who wish to control their own futures can do that here.”

    Governor Gavin Newsom

    “Women are being attacked on so many fronts by this Administration, from reproductive freedom and access to care, to cuts to the public institutions that support families—like our parks, libraries, and schools. Without reproductive freedom, a woman’s autonomy—and her family’s future—are no longer hers to shape. California will continue to stand up for all women, because when women have control over their own lives and bodies, kids, families, economies, and entire communities thrive.”

    First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom

    Dangers in the “Big, Beautiful Bill”

    According to Planned Parenthood, passage of the Congressional Republicans’ budget bill would put nearly 200 Planned Parenthood health centers at risk of closing, block 1.1 million patients from essential care like birth control and cancer screenings, and decimate abortion access in all 50 states. 

    Newsom actions to protect abortion access

    In the years since the Dobbs decision, California has stepped up to lead the way in protecting access to reproductive freedom for people in California and for those who travel to California to access this essential health care:

    • May 2025: The 2025-2026 May Revision proposes expanding the authority of CalRx to purchase brand-name drugs. This change gives the state more tools to respond to supply chain disruptions, market manipulation, or politically motivated restrictions that could threaten access to essential medications — including medication abortion.

    • May 2024: Governor Newsom signed SB 233 with the Legislative Women’s Caucus to allow Arizona abortion providers to temporarily provide abortion care to patients from Arizona who travel to California for care following the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling to reimpose a regressive 1864 law imposing a near-total abortion ban in their state. 

    • January 2024: The Reproductive Freedom Alliance, led by Governor Newsom, filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Food and Drug Administration, et al., v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, arguing that, if the Court allowed the Fifth Circuit’s decision rejecting FDA’s approval of mifepristone to stand, it would undermine Governors’ ability to provide adequate healthcare services and would have far-reaching implications beyond reproductive healthcare. The Supreme Court sided with the FDA in June 2024.

    • May 2023: First Partner Siebel Newsom spoke with the California Legislative Women’s Caucus about the State’s efforts to protect reproductive freedom.

    • April 2023: Governor Newsom procured an emergency stockpile of Misoprostol, a safe and effective medication abortion drug, as legal challenges continue to move through the courts in an attempt to block Mifepristone.

    • March 2023: Governor Newsom joined 13 other Governors in calling on major pharmacies to clarify plans for dispensing Mifepristone and other actions they plan to take to safeguard access to reproductive health care drugs.

    • February 2023: Governor Newsom launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a coalition of 22 Governors fighting together to protect and advance reproductive freedom.

    • January 2023: First Partner Siebel Newsom joined reproductive rights leaders on the steps of the California Capitol to talk about the importance of storytelling, uplifting voices, and sharing lived-experiences when it comes to the fight for reproductive freedom.

    • November 2022: 

      • Governor Newsom posthumously pardoned California abortion provider Laura Miner as a powerful reminder of the generations of people who fought for reproductive freedom in this country.

      • Voters pass Governor Newsom and the Legislature’s Proposition 1, an amendment to the state constitution to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom – including abortion care and contraception.

    • September 2022: 

      • Governor Newsom launched Abortion.CA.Gov to ensure people across California, and the country, can access essential information regarding reproductive health care, including resources available to support access to care.

      • Governor Newsom, working with the Legislature, ensured California passed the largest reproductive freedom bill package in state history, building firewalls around California as a reproductive freedom state.

    • June 2022, Governor Newsom:

      • Signed legislation to help protect patients and providers in California against radical attempts by other states to extend their anti-abortion laws into California, on the same day Roe v. Wade was overturned.

      • Invested over $200 million in reproductive health care. A large amount of these funds have already been disbursed for a variety of community efforts to maintain and increase reproductive health care services.

      • Issued an Executive Order protecting all state-held data and information from being used by out-of-state anti-abortion groups to target providers and patients.

    Recent news

    Jun 24, 2025

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  • MIL-OSI USA: Kamlager-Dove Delivers Fiery Remarks in Opposition to Trump’s Reckless Rescissions Package with Cuts to USAID, PBS

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager California (37th District)

    WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) spoke on the House Floor in strong opposition to Trump’s rescissions package codifying DOGE’s cuts to USAID, PBS, and other Congressionally-appropriated funding. The package passed the House on a party-line vote of 214-212.

    The clawback of $9.4 billion in funding that House Republicans themselves voted for last Congress would cut programs that prevent deadly diseases and pandemics, support democracy abroad, create markets for American businesses, and provide trusted public news, emergency alerts, and educational programming. 

    Her remarks as delivered can be viewed here or read below: 

    “Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this package. It is embarrassing, it is trifling. This is a funding package that Republicans actually agreed to and voted on last Congress when they were in the majority. Republicans must be missing Biden now because they actually had more influence under him than under Trump. 

    Now Republicans are going back on their own agreement and giving up their own power with this package. The real question is, why show up here if you have an orange daddy doing your work for you? 

    This vote actually puts every Republican on record as supporting Elon’s attack on democracy when even Steve Bannon said that Elon and DOGE found no waste. 

    With this package Republicans are one step closer to a country that looks more like the adversaries we profess to oppose. Americans will be left to clean up this mess. We will have zero standing in the international community and we will have zero claim to global leadership–while you all have killed off Elmo. 

    I urge my colleagues to vote no on this trash and I yield back.”

    # # #

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: King, Blumenthal Call for Investigation into Cancelled Contracts Impacting Veterans

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC) Ranking Member Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General to launch an investigation into the Trump Administration’s controversial, unilateral cancellation of VA contracts at the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Despite multiple requests from Senators King and Blumenthal, VA Secretary Doug Collins refuses to send Congress the complete and updated list of VA contracts canceled or proposed for cancellation — a list Secretary Collins consistently touts in public hearings, on social media and in interviews.

    The Senators began, “We write to request the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiate a review of the mass cancellation of VA contracts launched by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Secretary Collins, and other officials of the Department and the impact of these actions on veterans and VA operations. These activities began soon after January 20 and are ongoing.”

    “Since February of this year, Committee Minority staff have investigated these activities using public government contracting databases, internal VA documents, conducting interviews with VA employees and contractors, and other methods. The preliminary findings after analyzing more than 650 VA contracts ‘terminated for convenience’ between January 20 and May 30, 2025, extracted from federal contracting databases, are that a majority appear to be for services directly for veterans or critical VA operations to include for safe health care delivery,” wrote the Senators. While Collins and VA officials have refused to turn over the complete and updated list of contracts canceled, contract data is available online in near real time — including information on the cancellation of VA contracts.

    “To add to these alarming facts, recent media investigations, to include two stories released by ProPublica on June 6, have found evidence that DOGE and VA officials used ill-conceived Artificial Intelligence (AI) formulas and algorithms to make or inform contract cancellation decisions — cutting out meaningful input from VA career experts to assess the impact of ending these services. This adds an entire new level of unease connected to the decision-making, security, governance, and quality control of the entire process,” continued the senators. The damning reporting from ProPublica outlined in the letter exposes the careless nature of Secretary Collins and DOGE’s contract cancellation process at VA, including the use of flawed, error-prone AI tools to determine what contracts would be canceled.

    “However, this process which included cancelling hundreds of contracts, many in a several-day period, then restoring dozens just a few days later, is not an indication of good program management but rather waste, carelessness, and chaos. We are deeply concerned about how these cancellations, which are ongoing, are or will impact veterans’ health care, benefits, and other services; harm VA’s ability to perform oversight and program improvement; and eliminate or significantly hinder the availability of critical tools to maintain safe and clean facilities. A non-partisan and independent review of these matters is critical,” concluded the Senators.

    Representing one of the states with the highest rates of military families and veterans per capita, Senator King is a staunch advocate for America’s servicemembers and veterans. A member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), he works to ensure American veterans receive their earned benefits and that the VA is properly implementing various programs such as the PACT Act, the State Veterans Homes Domiciliary Care Flexibility Act, and the John Scott Hannon Act. Recently, in a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, Senator King joined his colleagues in urging for immediate action to secure veterans’ personal information provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), a measure that would protect millions of veterans’ medical records stored in VA’s computer systems. In addition, he helped pass the Veterans COLA Act, which increased benefits for 30,000 Maine veterans and their families.

    Recently, Senator King introduced bipartisan legislation alongside SVAC Chairman Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) to improve care coordination for veterans who rely on both VA health care and Medicare. In February, Senator King was honored by the Disabled American Veterans as its 2025 Legislator of the Year. Last year, he was recognized by the Wounded Warrior Project as the 2024 Legislator of the Year for his “outstanding legislative effort and achievement to improve the lives of the wounded, ill, and injured veterans.” Senator King recently joined SVAC Ranking Member Senator Blumenthal in writing a letter to Secretary Collins raising concerns over proposed $1 spending limits on VA purchase cards which are used to pay for gas to transport disabled veterans to apportionments, buy medical supplies and more. Senator King also joined his colleagues in raising concerns over proposed plans to terminate 83,000 VA employees, and participated in a special investigative SVAC hearing to question witnesses who were terminated due to DOGE cuts. Last month, Senators King and Blumenthal wrote again to Secretary Collins demanding an explanation for DOGE cuts at VA that would impact health care for Maine veterans.

    The full text of letter can be found here or below.

    +++

    Dear Acting Inspector General Case,

    We write to request the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiate a review of the mass cancellation of VA contracts launched by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Secretary Collins, and other officials of the Department and the impact of these actions on veterans and VA operations. These activities began soon after January 20 and are ongoing.

    Since February of this year, Committee Minority staff have investigated these activities using public government contracting databases, internal VA documents, conducting interviews with VA employees and contractors, and other methods.

    The preliminary findings after analyzing more than 650 VA contracts “terminated for convenience” between January 20 and May 30, 2025, extracted from federal contracting databases, are that a majority appear to be for services directly for veterans or critical VA operations to include for safe health care delivery. They include more than two dozen for medical supplies and equipment; four for cancer and tumor registries; more than 110 for construction and infrastructure services to include maintenance of boilers; prosthetics, including the conversion of a van for a veteran; more than 15 nursing home care contracts; more than 150 dealing with a wide range of quality of care, medical oversight, and hospital accreditation preparedness services; PACT Act implementation; and more. These are all areas that have been the subject of hundreds of OIG reports and investigations and known to be matters in which VA needs more support, not less. In addition, to date, no evidence has been provided by VA that any thoughtful contingency planning was put into place before these services were cancelled. Compounding our concerns are the hiring freeze, deferred resignations, terminations, and planned mass reductions of VA’s workforce that in theory is responsible for absorbing some of this work.

    To add to these alarming facts, recent media investigations, to include two stories released by ProPublica on June 6, have found evidence that DOGE and VA officials used ill-conceived Artificial Intelligence (AI) formulas and algorithms to make or inform contract cancellation decisions—cutting out meaningful input from VA career experts to assess the impact of ending these services. This adds an entire new level of unease connected to the decision-making, security, governance, and quality control of the entire process.

    As way of background, on February 24 and 25, 2025, Secretary Collins announced on social media his plan, carried out with Elon Musk and DOGE, to cancel hundreds of VA contracts he claimed were for “PowerPoint slides and meeting minutes” and indicated were valued at $2 billion. After directing career officials in the Department to start the cancellations, a list of more than 870 contracts was leaked to Congress and the media. The reality was that these contracts were predominantly for direct services for veterans or supporting VA operations including: suicide prevention and mental health treatment; disability claims processing, exams and auditing; radiology services; outreach regarding burial benefits and health care services; and contracts to conduct oversight activities to identify and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

    When the true content of mass contract cancellations was exposed, VA’s leadership team directed career officials to pause some cancellations. Public records show some contracts previously cancelled at the Secretary’s direction were then reversed while others remain cancelled and new contracts are being cancelled each week. On March 3, 2025, VA announced that instead of more than 870 contracts, it would cancel 585 contracts with an alleged value of $1.8 billion but provided no details. This has been a consistent pattern and problem. Despite repeated requests in letters to the Secretary, questions at hearings, and dozens of emails to VA officials, as of the date of this letter, the Department has not provided a single briefing or a complete and accurate list of the contracts it has cancelled, descoped, modified, or otherwise changed as part of this process or the underlying methodology, reasoning, and contingency planning. On May 16, VA provided Congress with a list of more than 445 contracts which it indicated were “terminated and closed.” This list was so riddled with errors and inaccuracies to call into question the veracity of the entire document.

    Since the beginning of this process, Secretary Collins and VA officials have repeatedly denied—without supporting evidence—that the cancellations will negatively affect veterans or VA operations, including saying:

    • “[t]he termination of these contracts will not negatively affect Veteran care, benefits or services, and will help VA better focus on its core mission: providing the best possible care and services to Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors”, VA Press Release, March 3, 2025;
    • “as part of its review, VA career subject-matter expert employees responsible for the contract cancelations were given the option to stop a cancellation if they felt it would negatively impact health care, benefits or services for Veterans or VA beneficiaries”, VA Press Release, March 3, 2025;
    • “VA will not cancel contracts for work that provides services to veterans or that the agency cannot do itself without a contingency plan in place”, VA Spokesperson, “DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts,” ProPublica, June 6, 2025;
    • “[c]ontracts that directly support Veterans, beneficiaries or provide services VA cannot do itself, such as a nurse who sees patients or an organization that provides third-party certification services, respectively, were not canceled. Contracts that involved services VA has the ability to perform itself were typically canceled”, Secretary Collins, letter to Congress, May 2, 2025.

    Based on these findings and information, we ask VA OIG to conduct a review of these matters which may include a focus on:

    • the impact of these cancellations on veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors health care, benefits, memorial affairs and related services;
    • the impact of these cancellations on VA operations such as quality of care oversight, patient safety, accreditation, medical supplies and equipment, IT security, research, construction and maintenance;
    • the use of AI and/or algorithms to guide decision-making to include the recipient and purpose each VA contract identified by DOGE VA employee Mr. Sahil Lavingia that has been terminated; the formal assignment and instructions given to Mr. Lavingia with respect to assessment of VA contracts to include whether they included the use of AI and the approval of relevant code; the data integrity and protection measures taken, if any, to ensure the safeguarding of any personally identifiable information; and the extent to which this and any other related use of AI by DOGE or the VA violated any policy, procedure, regulation, or statute;
    • the extent, timing, and substantive involvement, if any, of VA career subject matter experts in the decision-making regarding cancellations;
    • the existence of contingency plans to replace the services prior to contract cancellations;
    • an identification of the contracts cancelled, descoped, stopped or allowed to expire at part of this mass cancellation effort;
    • the financial transfer of funding from cancelled contracts to other VA activities; and
    • other relevant matters as determined by VA OIG

    We firmly support VA efforts to regularly review services procured by the Department and that process should be built into any functioning acquisition and program management operation at VA. However, this process, which included cancelling hundreds of contracts, many in a several-day period, then restoring dozens just a few days later, is not an indication of good program management but rather waste, carelessness, and chaos. We are deeply concerned about how these cancellations, which are ongoing, are or will impact veterans’ health care, benefits, and other services; harm VA’s ability to perform oversight and program improvement; and eliminate or significantly hinder the availability of critical tools to maintain safe and clean facilities.

    A non-partisan and independent review of these matters is critical. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Iran’s death toll from Israeli attacks surpasses 600: ministry

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    The death toll from Israeli strikes across Iran over the past 12 days has reached 606, with 5,332 others injured, Iran’s Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi said on Tuesday.

    Zafarghandi described the past 24 hours as witnessing the “most horrific attacks and aggressions” by Israel since the start of the aerial conflict on June 13, resulting in 104 deaths and 1,342 injuries.

    Meanwhile, Israel’s Health Ministry has reported 28 fatalities and 3,238 injuries on its side since the onset of the conflict.

    U.S. President Donald Trump announced late Monday night that a ceasefire between the two sides would begin around 0400 GMT Tuesday.

    Although both Iran and Israel accepted the ceasefire, violations were reported by both sides hours into the ceasefire, and both sides vowed to retaliate. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Trump tells Israel not to drop more bombs on Iran

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    U.S. President Donald Trump told Israel on Tuesday “do not drop those bombs” on Iran, saying that this would be a “major violation” of the ceasefire.

    “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO, IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

    Israel said on Tuesday it had identified missiles from Iran, shortly after the Israeli authorities said they had accepted a ceasefire proposed by Trump.

    Iran had rejected reports of having launched missiles towards Israel following the ceasefire declared between the two sides earlier in the day, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that he had “instructed the military to respond forcefully to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire with intense strikes” against targets “in the heart of Tehran.”

    The missiles triggered air raid sirens across the Haifa area before being intercepted by the Israeli air defense systems, the military said. No injuries or damage had been reported.

    Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force continued its strikes in Iran, unleashing another wave of strikes in western Iran, with the military saying they had targeted missile launchers.

    The latest escalation came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel had accepted a ceasefire proposed by Trump and had achieved its war goals against Iran.

    Trump had earlier announced that a ceasefire between the two sides would begin around 0400 GMT, with Iran expected to halt its operations first.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said earlier that there was no “agreement” on a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. However, he suggested Iran would be prepared to halt further retaliation if Israeli attacks stopped by 4 a.m. Tehran time (0030 GMT).

    “If Israel stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 a.m., Iran has no intention of continuing its response afterwards,” Araqchi wrote in a post on X, adding that “the final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”

    The conflicting narratives raised questions about the implementation and durability of any potential ceasefire. It remained unclear whether the reported deal had been communicated through diplomatic channels, or whether either side intended to follow the terms.

    Trump announced Monday evening that Israel and Iran have reached a formal agreement to implement a complete and total ceasefire, marking what he called the end of the “12-Day War.”

    In a post on his Truth Social platform Monday, Trump said the ceasefire would initially last 12 hours, during which the opposing sides would maintain a posture of “peace and respect.”

    MIL OSI China News –

  • West Asia ceasefire unravels within hours as Israel and Iran exchange strikes

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    The ceasefire between Israel and Iran unraveled within hours of its announcement, as both sides launched fresh attacks and accused each other of violations. Israeli officials confirmed a strike on a radar installation near Tehran in response to three missiles reportedly fired by Iran, one at 07:06 and two more at 10:25 local time, after the truce had taken effect.

    Explosions were reported in Iran’s northern Mazandaran province, including the cities of Babol and Babolsar, prompting the activation of air defense systems. Tehran denied launching any new missiles, while Israel cited precise timings to assert Iranian non-compliance, resulting in conflicting narratives and casting doubt on the ceasefire’s enforceability. However, no further incidents were reported after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    The ceasefire, brokered with Qatar’s mediation following intensive negotiations and U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, had been announced by President Trump on June 23. Both Netanyahu and Iranian state media publicly acknowledged the agreement, raising initial hopes of de-escalation. However, the swift breakdown revealed fundamental disagreements over the scope and terms of the truce.

    Trump, visibly frustrated, condemned both sides: “Iran did. Israel did, too. I’m not happy with Israel. Don’t go out first hour. Not happy with Iran, either.” In a pointed warning, he added, “DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Israeli officials later confirmed they had refrained from further attacks following Netanyahu’s call with the U.S. President.

    The breakdown of the ceasefire coincides with the opening of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, where the conflict has already overshadowed the alliance’s traditional focus on defense spending and unity. President Trump arrived at the summit just hours after announcing the truce, only to see it fall apart soon after. The renewed violence in West Asia has forced NATO leaders to address the region’s rapidly deteriorating security situation while continuing to grapple with ongoing challenges such as the war in Ukraine.

    Meanwhile, regional air traffic is gradually resuming. Air India Express announced the restart of its services to West Asia from June 24, with flights resuming today on the Delhi, Muscat route, and additional services to Muscat, Riyadh, and Jeddah from Mumbai, Kozhikode, and Jaipur. Flights to and from major UAE cities, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain, and Ras Al Khaimah,are scheduled to resume tomorrow.

  • MIL-OSI USA: Pingree Statement on Trump Bombing Iran Without Congressional Authorization

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (1st District of Maine)

    Pingree Statement on Trump Bombing Iran Without Congressional Authorization

    Washington, June 21, 2025

    Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree released the following statement after President Trump said U.S. forces bombed nuclear sites in Iran:

    The President’s decision to bomb Iran without the authorization of Congress is reckless, unconstitutional, and puts countless lives at risk—including U.S. troops currently stationed in the Middle East. 

    No President has the authority to launch a military attack against any country without Congressional authorization—especially when there’s no imminent threat to the American people. This is unconstitutional.

     It is imperative that Congress convene as soon as possible to address this crisis, to vote on the bipartisan War Powers Act introduced last week, and to make clear to the President that the United States must not be dragged into another war in the Middle East.

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    MIL OSI USA News –