Congress
Democrats call for Trump administration to intervene in Gaza amid accelerating humanitarian crisis
A growing number of Democrats from across the party’s ideological spectrum are speaking out about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling for the Trump administration to intervene in the Israel-Hamas war amid warnings from global leaders and international relief groups that the situation in the war-torn strip has reached a breaking point.
The barrage of statements come after international leaders and aid organizations issued dire warnings this week that the nearly 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza face starvation as a result of Israeli aid blockages.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries bashed the administration’s approach to the conflict in a statement posted to X on Saturday.
“During the first six months of Donald Trump’s time in office, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a breaking point,” Jeffries wrote.
“Hostages are still being held by Hamas despite the President’s promise they would be released and the pre-existing ceasefire the administration inherited has been breached. The starvation and death of Palestinian children and civilians in an ongoing war zone is unacceptable,” the Democratic leader wrote. “The Trump administration has the ability to bring an end to this humanitarian crisis. They must act now.”
Global outrage at the crisis in Gaza has been bubbling for months, reaching its loudest this week. The leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement on Friday calling for an end to the war, and for the Israeli government “to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid” and “uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law.”
On Saturday, amid the increased condemnation globally, the Israel Defense Forces announced that aid airdrops would begin Saturday evening and humanitarian corridors for United Nations convoys would be opened.
But the Israeli military maintained that “there is no starvation in Gaza,” and said such claims were “a false campaign promoted by Hamas.” The military did not say when or where the U.N. convoy corridors would open.
Progressives in the Democratic Party have remained firm in their assessment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Gaza, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) calling Netanyahu’s unrelenting military operation an “extermination of Gaza.”
“The White House and Congress must immediately act to end this war using the full scope of American influence,” the Vermont senator, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said Friday in a statement on X. “No more military aid to the Netanyahu government.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that “President Trump wants a better life for the people of Gaza because he has a humanitarian heart. Tragically, the people of Gaza are struggling because of Hamas’ clear lack of desire to reach a ceasefire and work in good faith towards a permanent peace.”
She touted the work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — an aid organization backed by the U.S. and Israeli governments — to deliver “85 million meals to date — aid which was only possible because of President Trump’s call for creative solutions to help the Palestinians.”
The Democratic Party has been roiled by the Israel-Hamas war, which began after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Progressives in the party — like Sanders — have criticized Israel, saying its military response to the attack has devastated Gaza and killed tens of thousands of innocent people.
But as the Israeli offensive has dragged on, more Democrats have increasingly condemned Netanyahu’s government — particularly over the last several days, as global outrage mounted over the humanitarian crisis facing Gazans.
Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), two Democrats who have remained staunch supporters of Israel, joined the outcry of concern for those in Gaza — while still keeping the onus on Hamas.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a full-blown crisis, with innocent women and children who are starving,” Scholten wrote in a press release Saturday, adding that “we must remain clear-eyed about one thing: Hamas started this war and can end it today. But they choose not to.”
Goldman gave a similar response, expressing concern for the amount of starving Palestinians, while keeping the blame on Hamas: “And let’s be clear: Hamas could end it today if they wanted to. Israel has agreed to a ceasefire proposal, Hamas has rejected it. Release the hostages and end this travesty.”
Still, some Democrats haven’t viewed this moment in Gaza as the time to break from Israel’s leadership.
Rep. Josh Gottenheimer (D-N.J.), who has positioned himself as one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in Congress, hit back hard on a decision by French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced that his country will become the first G7 country to recognize the state of Palestine.
“France’s decision is deeply misguided,” the New Jersey congressman wrote on X on Saturday. “It rewards Hamas for the atrocities of October 7 and is counterproductive to real, lasting peace.”
The overwhelming uproar from Democrats comes just two days after special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that the U.S. was pulling out of ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, claiming that “Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.”
The Trump administration has sought to bring the war in Gaza to a close after a fragile ceasefire deal struck in the transition between the Biden and Trump administrations collapsed in March.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that Hamas “didn’t want to make a deal.” When asked if he had spoken to Netanyahu about foreign aid drops in Gaza, the president said they had spoken but declined to share details.
At times, Trump has appeared optimistic that the parties would agree to a peace deal, despite Netanyahu’s stubborn refusal to consider permanently stopping the war and Hamas’ ever-shifting negotiation tactics.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has rapidly escalated as relief organizations say Israel has withheld aid from Palestinians in the war-torn strip, despite global outcry. World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus on Thursday warned that the more than 2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza face mass starvation, in addition to threats posed by continual bombing.
Ghebreyesus, along with other global leaders, has warned for months of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip, cautioning that it was on course to reach mass-starvation levels.
Congress
Trump apparently shares Tom Cotton’s phone number in push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent
President Donald Trump appeared to share Sen. Tom Cotton’s phone number in a Saturday morning social media post imploring the Arkansas Republican to get behind a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
“Almost everybody wants “The Sunshine Protection Act” to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”
The president has spent months personally pushing Senate Republicans to end the practice that sees Americans change their clocks twice a year, cementing more sunlight hours in the evening for all twelve months of the calendar. Cotton, whom Trump called “a friend of mine” in the Saturday post, has long argued that making daylight saving time permanent would leave children, farmers and other early risers in the dark for hours on winter mornings.
One of Trump’s key selling points on Saturday: the PGA tour.
“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments,” he said, attaching a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp endorsing the bill. ”Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work.
A Blue Light News call to the cellphone number went to voicemail. A spokesperson for Cotton did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The current version of the bill was introduced in the House in January 2025 by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) leading the Senate version. The legislation would make daylight saving time permanent across most of the country, ending the twice-yearly clock changes. The legislation has been stalled in the Senate since July.
The president encouraged supporters of the bill, dubbed the “The Sunshine Protection Act,” to call Cotton to “let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”
During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he publicly gave out the personal cellphone number of then-rival Sen. Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican criticized him. Trump, who came to count on Graham as a reliable Senate ally after he won the presidency, revisited the moment during Graham’s funeral in July, acknowledging that sharing the number was something he “shouldn’t have done.”
Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.
Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.
The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.
The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.
“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”
Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.
He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,
Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.
Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.
House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.
“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.
Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.
Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”
Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.
Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.
“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”
Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.
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