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For Immediate Release
April, 16 2026, 12:58pm EDT
Contact:
Email:,press@demandprogress.org
Jared Golden Joins Republicans to Sink Iran War Powers Resolution
Dem Leaders Delayed the Vote Until After Trump’s Escalation and Still Failed
On Thursday, the House failed to adopt a war powers resolution to end the war in Iran. Notably, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) sided with a majority of Republicans to oppose the measure. Demand Progress is leading a campaign in support of the war powers resolutions.
The following is a statement from Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Cavan Kharrazian:
“Congress has once again failed to uphold its constitutional responsibility by refusing to block this unauthorized and dangerous war. While we are encouraged to see growing support, including three of the four previous Democratic ‘no’ votes flipping, it is deeply disappointing that Rep. Golden joined Republicans in opposing efforts to stop further escalation, casting a decisive vote against the resolution.
Democratic leadership’s handling of this moment is also concerning. They previously declined to force a war powers vote before a critical period of escalation before recess, citing a lack of votes. Now they have moved forward under less favorable conditions, including during sensitive ceasefire negotiations, but still without the votes they previously claimed were necessary before proceeding, and with a changed balance in the House. That inconsistency raises a serious question about what is driving leadership’s priorities: strategy or politics.
We urge members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to support sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve this conflict. The American people overwhelmingly reject this war and want a diplomatic end to it.”
Demand Progress amplifies the voice of the people -- and wields it to make government accountable and contest concentrated corporate power. Our mission is to protect the democratic character of the internet -- and wield it to contest concentrated corporate power and hold government accountable.
LATEST NEWS
Israel Keeps Killing Lebanese Civilians Despite Trump's De-Escalation Claim
"The more Netanyahu prevents the war with Iran from ending, the more obvious it becomes that he convinced Trump to start it."
Jun 02, 2026
The death toll from Israel's assault on Lebanon continued to rise on Tuesday despite President Donald Trump's claims of de-escalation following Monday phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an intermediary for Hezbollah.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Tuesday that "the cumulative toll of the aggression from March 2 to June 2 has reached 3,468 dead and 10,577 injured," even amid a ceasefire agreed to in April. The deal stemmed from Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war on Iran, and Israel initially claimed it did not include Lebanon.
After Iran on Monday reportedly halted talks with the US over Israel's attacks on Lebanon, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that due to his phone calls, Israeli troops "have already been turned back" from Beirut, and Hezbollah "agreed that all shooting will stop—That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel."
However, Netanyahu said later Monday that "I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and civilians, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut. This position remains unchanged."
According to Axios reporting contested by a senior Israeli official, one US source summarized Trump's remarks to Netanyahu as follows: "You're fucking crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this."
Another source said that Trump was "pissed" and at one point yelled at the prime minister, "What the fuck are you doing?"
While "the story has understandably been met with considerable skepticism," wrote Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, there are "a few important counterexamples—particularly from Trump's second term—that suggest the Axios story is not entirely implausible."
"What is also plausible, however, is that Trump will once again fail to sustain the pressure and, by that, allow for Netanyahu's potential retreat to prove temporary," Parsi predicted.
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie (Ky.), a libertarian who recently lost his reelection primary to a Trump-backed challenger, responded to the reporting on social media: "It's all talk. Just withhold foreign aid to Israel for a month, and they'll stop bombing their neighbors—instant peace, the Strait of Hormuz can be opened, and gas drops $2 a gallon. Israel has been, and continues to be, the biggest welfare recipient from American taxpayers."
Massie also said that "the more Netanyahu prevents the war with Iran from ending, the more obvious it becomes that he convinced Trump to start it."
Progressive Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (Minn.) similarly said late Monday: "The lesson Israel has learned, time and again, is that it can commit genocide and other atrocities with near-total impunity. Now it's exporting the Gaza playbook to Lebanon. Israel's war in Lebanon is killing thousands and displacing over a million. NO MORE US AID TO ISRAEL."
Citing Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) on Tuesday, Al Jazeera cataloged Israel's killings since Trump's de-escalation claims:
Two Syrians were killed in an Israeli attack on a plant nursery where they were working in the town of Jebchit in the Nabatieh governorate, NNA said on Tuesday.
Israeli drone strikes hit a motorcycle on Martyr Sabra Street in Toul and a car in the Dhi’at al-Arab neighborhood of Ansar, killing two people, NNA said.
The third strike hit a car near the village of Harouf, killing one person.
Separately, an Israeli drone strike hit a car on the road linking the southern town of Marjayoun with the city of Nabatieh, killing James Karam, a dentist from the nearby Christian municipality of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and son, NNA reported.
Those deaths followed Israel's Monday airstrike in the southern village of Marwaniyeh, which killed six members of the Hassan Abdullah family, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense. Palestine Chronicle reported that "rescue teams worked throughout the night and into Tuesday morning to recover victims trapped beneath the rubble of the destroyed building. Three additional people were pulled from the debris during the operation."
Also on Monday, Israel attacked the Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre, killing at least four people and injuring dozens more.
Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Lebanon, said Tuesday that the hospital is one of the few operating in the country's south, and the attack "caused significant damage... to the emergency department and intensive care unit."
"Six hospitals have not yet resumed maternity delivery services and are currently providing only emergency room care," he noted. "For pregnant women and newborns, delays in care can mean the difference between life and death."
WHO has verified nearly 200 attacks on healthcare facilities and workers in Lebanon over the past three months. Calling for such attacks "to stop" and "active protection for healthcare," Abubakar stressed that "these attacks kill and maim, they also deprive people of the health services they need."
Israel hit Jabal Amel Hospital after a strike near Hiram Hospital the previous day, according to Doctors Without Borders, which supports both facilities. Omar Ebeid, the organization's project coordinator in southern Lebanon, said Tuesday that "these repeated attacks reflect a grave failure to protect the medical mission and underscore the urgent need to safeguard civilians, medical staff, health facilities, and continuous access to lifesaving care."
Faced with a rising death toll and Israeli forces' destruction of civilian infrastructure, The Associated Press reported, "another round of talks between Israel and Lebanon began Tuesday in Washington, where Lebanese negotiators are set to seek a full ceasefire that will prevent future attacks."
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‘Super PACs Should Be Outlawed,’ Says Platner, as Pro-Collins Corporate Dark Money Pours Into Maine to Attack Him
"It's fascinating that the more money that goes into our political system, the less we talk about actual politics."
Jun 02, 2026
The super PACs pouring money into the US Senate race in Maine are doing a great job of proving Graham Platner's point.
As new reporting on Monday detailed the flood of dark money targeting his campaign, the Democratic hopeful in recent days has put a spotlight on the super PACs, which he says have created a political system dominated by corporations and wealthy donors who want to distract from the serious issues and struggles faced by everyday voters and working families.
"I think it's very telling that a political system that has become controlled by money, controlled by the power of organized money, is also a political system that is trying to convince all of us down here that policy and discussions around what government can or cannot do is not what they want to talk about," Platner said during a conversation with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime critic of super PACs, posted to social media.
"It's fascinating that the more money that goes into our political system," he continued, "the less we talk about actual politics."
"I agree with Senator Sanders: Super PACs should be outlawed," said Platner.
On Monday, Sludge reported that a pair of shadowy nonprofits "with no public presence and no disclosed staff" have dumped at least $750,000 into a super PAC supporting Platner's opponent, the five-term incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
Condorcet Initiative Corp. has given $500,000 to Pine Tree Results PAC across two separate donations, including $250,000 on May 1 that was disclosed in a filing reported to the Federal Election Commission last week. Ardleigh Impact Corporation contributed an additional $250,000 in April.
The PAC has spent nearly $4 million on attack ads against Sen. Susan Collins’ Democratic challenger Graham Platner, according to FEC data.
The two nonprofits are both described as shell-like entities linked to the same address in Springfield, Virginia, belonging to Republican political consultant Staci Goede.
The groups are part of a much larger network and have poured a combined $9 million into GOP-aligned PACs since 2024, including in four competitive Senate races in this coming cycle.
Goede, meanwhile, is the treasurer or officer for at least nine different nonprofits "that span Republican Senate campaigns, pro-Israel donor pass-throughs, and issue advocacy groups," according to the report.
The Campaign Legal Center has filed a complaint against Ardleigh, arguing that the nonprofit, which contributed an astonishing $2.575 million across six federal committees in its first three months of existence, was being used as a straw donor to conceal the identities of one or more rich benefactors.
The source of the $750,000 aimed at Platner remains unknown. But the Pine Tree Results PAC is already known to have a slate of wealthy backers from the commanding heights of finance and tech, including Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, hedge fund founder Paul Singer, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp. The fund has also taken in contributions from an affiliate of the tobacco giant Altria and from the far-right news company Newsmax.
According to a FEC data, it has raised more than $16 million to help Collins ward off a challenger in 2026, which will almost certainly be Platner.
While the potential use of straw donors may present legal issues, the use of super PACs by wealthy backers to dump unlimited sums behind their preferred candidates is unquestionably legal under federal campaign finance law.
As of March, super PACs funded by crypto, artificial intelligence, pro-Israel donors, and outside groups had already spent more than $225 million trying to influence the 2026 election cycle, according to the Washington Post.
Platner has argued on the campaign trail that the unchecked ability of the wealthy to influence elections is a genesis point for the growing wealth gap between the rich and poor.
"The inequality we’re experiencing, it didn’t happen organically," he said at a recent campaign event. "We live in the outcome of policy written by establishment politicians who for 40 years have been doing the bidding of those who donate the most money to them."
The Pine Tree Results PAC had already spent nearly $4 million on ads attacking Platner as of May 20, according to FEC data. As Sludge's reporting notes, "Rather than engaging with policy, the ads are exclusively focused on personal attacks against Platner, digging up comments the candidate made online going back as far as 2013."
So far, attempts to mire Platner in personal scandal have done little to blunt the momentum of his populist campaign. A poll from the University of New Hampshire in late May showed him leading the incumbent by a nine-point margin among likely voters and other polls show similar advantages.
It can be expected that the PACs attacking Platner will make a meal out of recent reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times that probe into the private details of his marriage.
But noting the failure of past attempts to drown Platner in controversy, Lever News founder David Sirota questioned in a piece on Monday if these sorts of "character" attacks even work in an age of politics defined by rapacious corporate greed and corruption.
He noted how Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Ct.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) responded to recent questions from news outlets about whether Platner’s controversies mean he’s failed to “pass the character test.” Murphy responded that “character involves standing up to people who are bankrupting and corrupting this country,” while Khanna lauded Platner for “having the character to stand up against the war in Iran, against genocide, and against an unfair and lopsided economy.”
This response, Sirota said, hinted that the country could be entering a new political paradigm—"a reality in which many voters are so economically pulverized and politically disillusioned that they now define 'character' in a politician solely as whether or not they are single-mindedly focused on destroying oligarchy and ending corruption."
“It is, potentially, a new era in which voters who can’t afford anything and who feel totally ignored by their government have reimagined their entire definition of political 'character' on economic/anti-corruption terms—rather than on old definitions of personal moral rectitude,” he wrote. “In this potential new reality, the personal shortcomings of individual politicians—which often have little effect on voters’ actual lives—are less important and electorally salient than the policies those politicians support and oppose."
"And such a shift," he added, "would make sense in the current moment.”
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'Absolutely Crazy’: Horror as Trump Moves to Dismantle Crucial Ocean Monitoring System
"Blinding the public to climate change won’t make it go away. It will only accelerate its profound consequences."
Jun 02, 2026
In what a number of scientists suggested was the Trump administration's latest effort to stop tracking the changing climate in hopes of convincing the public that the climate emergency isn't happening, the National Science Foundation announced Monday that it was dismantling a crucial deep-ocean monitoring system that for years has helped researchers understand the impacts of the crisis on the world's oceans.
The NSF said it plans to send ships this month to remove more than 900 instruments, part of a project called the Ocean Observatories Initiative. The project collects data on temperatures, currents, and the ocean's absorption of carbon dioxide off the coasts of Oregon, Alaska, Washington, and North Carolina, as well as in the Irminger Sea between Iceland and Greenland.
A spokesperson for NSF told The New York Times that the dismantling of the initiative will help the NSF in "prioritizing support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies as well as a deliberate approach to smart life cycle management within its portfolio of research infrastructure.”
The reasoning given for the shuttering of the project, said Tara Blume, a journalist at Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR, was "a master class in obfuscation and doublespeak."
Genevieve Guenther of the group End Climate Silence shared her own interpretation of why the $368 million ocean observation system is being discontinued, despite the fact that it had been set to collect data for 25 years.
"We need to track ocean currents to assess how close we are to climate tipping points that will essentially destroy the world as we know it," said Guenther. "The GOP doesn't want us to be able to do that. That's why they're dismantling ocean monitoring."
Scientists have used data gathered by moorings, robotic vehicles, and other instruments that transmit the information to research laboratories, to study changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC), a current system that moves warm water northward and cools the Arctic and Northern Atlantic regions while absorbing carbon dioxide deep into the ocean and keeping it out of the atmosphere.
Data gathered at the observation station in the Irminger Sea has been key to understanding AMOC, which scientists fear is gradually weakening due to planetary heating and could ultimately collapse, likely causing major global weather changes.
"This is absolutely crazy," said David Doniger, a senior strategist and attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate and energy department. "Wouldn’t you want to know if the ocean currents are changing? Wouldn’t you want to know ocean temperatures? These things affect everything from fishing to hurricanes."
Following the announcement that the stations will be dismantled in the coming weeks, said Blume, "science gasps for breath."
President Donald Trump has attempted several times to shut down or drastically reduce the budget of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, which costs $48 million annually to run. Congress has restored the program's funding.
The dismantling of the program comes months after the Environmental Protection Agency repealed the "endangerment finding," which for years had underpinned the department's environmental regulations; after the administration closed down the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which had gathered data on hurricanes and extreme weather to help improve forecasts; and after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration released a statement on record-breaking temperatures in 2024 and 2025—without any mention of the climate crisis or climate change.
"Blinding the public to climate change won’t make it go away. It will only accelerate its profound consequences," said clinical researcher Iris Gorfinkel.
According to the Trump administration, said historian Nick Kapur, "apparently climate change doesn't exist if you prevent scientists from measuring it."
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