Rep. Scholten releases a statement that denies Israeli genocide, embraces US militarism, and ignores immigrant justice demands

Over the past week, there have been proposals and debates in both the US House and the US Senate regarding additional US military funding for Israel, Ukraine and the US/Mexican Border.

The Biden Administration wants funding for all three of these items, with a proposed $61 billion going to Ukraine, a proposed $10-$14 Billion to Israel and a smaller amount going for what is framed as “border security.”

Most Democratic members in Congress support what the Biden Administration, while the Republicans have been making alternative proposals for immigration and border security.

Rep. Hillary Scholten, who is just in her second year as the 3rd Congressional Representative, has consistently supported US military funding for Ukraine, for Israel and for border security. On Tuesday, Rep. Scholten released a statement regarding H.R. 7217, which she did not support, primarily because of some of the provisions in the GOP proposed bill.

What follows is Rep. Scholten’s statement from 2/6/2024, which will be followed by the GRIID response.

“The legislation put on the floor by Speaker Johnson fails to meet this moment by playing politics with our national security, and further, has no chance of becoming law.

“I support Israel’s right to exist as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people, and to ensure that right, Israel must defend itself against its enemies, including Hamas in the wake of the brutal terrorist attacks of October 7. For decades, this has been a bipartisan issue, and there is still a strong bipartisan coalition ready to support Israel. But today’s vote was not about supporting Israel and its right to defend itself.

“I have been working with bipartisan members urgently – for months – on a deal. Speaker Johnson abandoned those bipartisan negotiations and put forward a non-serious messaging bill that he knew would fail. This bill does not include much-needed humanitarian aid for innocent civilians who are suffering in Gaza. It does not include essential support for Ukraine, which continues to wage its war against the spread of authoritarianism. And it does not include a critical border security package that is essential to addressing the immigration crisis at our southern border.

“Our national security is a serious issue and demands a serious vote, not a political ploy, so I voted against this bill. I continue to push the Speaker to honor the comprehensive package that the president supports and that has bipartisan agreement in the Senate.”

“Now more than ever we must stand together as the United States of America and link arms with our democratic allies around the world, continue our tireless work to bring home the hostages still held by Hamas, send critical aid to those afflicted by war, and protect our security at home through comprehensive immigration reform.” 

Point #1 – When Rep. Scholten blames Speaker Johnson for putting forth a proposal that she doesn’t think will become a law, she ignores the fact that this is a longstanding tactic of the Democratic Party as well.

Point #2 – Rep. Scholten makes it clear that Israel has her total support, since she essentially uses language that the Israeli government uses. Scholten also acknowledges that US support for Israel has been historically bi-partisan, which is true, and will continue to be so as both parties have always backed Israel no matter what the international consequences are. More importantly, Rep. Scholten fails to say anything about the now 5 month Israeli assault on Palestinians resulting in over 27,000 dead Palestinians. Like President Biden, Rep. Scholten supports the genocidal campaign being waged by Israel against the Palestinians, a designation that the International Criminal Court gave a few weeks back.

Point #3 – In paragraph 3 Rep. Scholten acknowledges her support for US military funding for Ukraine, for Israel and “a critical border security package that is essential to addressing the immigration crisis at our southern border.” In this paragraph, Scholten also mentions that the GOP version doesn’t support humanitarian aid for Gaza. What Scholten fails to mention is that the Biden Administration has voted to defund support for UNRWA, which is the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA is the best way to get humanitarian relief to Palestinians. As for the “immigration crisis at our southern border,” Rep. Scholten wants us to believe that she is a defender of immigration justice, when in fact, the legislation that she has proposed, the Dignity Act falls way short of embracing immigration justice. We addressed this issue in August, when Scholten was being interviewed by WOODTV8, writing:  

The Dignity Act is not Comprehensive Immigration Reform, nor does it address more structural elements of root causes of immigration, such as the US role in supporting military and trade policies in Latin America that have destabilized most of the region, along with the fact that more and more people are being displaced and forced to flee their homelands because of Climate Change.

Point #4 – In paragraph 4, Rep. Scholten gets a little preachy saying that national security is a serious matter. However, Scholten fails to mention that the Biden Administration pushed through the largest military spending bill in US history ($886 Billion), a bill that received plenty of support from the GOP, as I noted in December when the military spending bill was adopted.

Point #5 – In the last paragraph of Scholten’s statement, we see her re-affirm her commitment to US military aid to Ukraine and to Israel, along with the Israeli PR playbook mantra, “bring home the hostages still held by Hamas.” Again, Scholten refuses to acknowledge Israeli genocide and US complicity in that genocide. Scholten also uses the language, “protect our security at home through comprehensive immigration reform.” 

In this final sentence, Rep. Scholten makes it clear that US immigration policy is centered around national security and not immigration justice. Lastly, while calling what she supports comprehensive immigration reform, there is nothing comprehensive about the immigration legislation she support or the fact that it ignores the demands by immigration justice groups across the country like Mijente and Movimiento Cosecha that have a very different idea of what immigration justice looks like.