The House of Representatives passed a law that will make it harder for international governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to give money to the Taliban. By law (H.R. 260), the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act says that the US will not accept foreign aid from other countries or nongovernmental organizations that help the Taliban. This includes countries and organizations that receive foreign aid from the US.
On Monday, Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, who proposed the bill, said on the House floor that Afghans who are against Taliban rule have told him that the government is getting money from other countries.
Burchett said, “They say that almost all of the money sent to Afghanistan ends up in the hands of the Taliban.” “Mr. Speaker, they’ll hate us for free.” We shouldn’t have to give them our hard-earned tax money.
The Act tells the Secretary of State that within 180 days, they have to come up with a plan to stop other countries and groups from helping the Taliban, find ways to help Afghan women and former US military partners, and give Congress a series of reports on aid to Afghanistan.
Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) said that the bill had support from both parties, but he criticized the Trump administration for not being clear about its plans in Afghanistan.
Jackson said, “No one agrees on what the Trump administration is doing in Afghanistan because they won’t tell us.” “The Trump administration needs to give us more information and reassurances about their priorities in Afghanistan and now Iran right away.”
No one spoke against the bill, so it passed the House by voice vote. It will now go to the Senate to be approved for good.
The House passed a bill earlier this month by a vote of 226 to 188. This will stop future administrations from blocking oil and gas drilling without Congress’s permission. This is another big win for President Trump.
Congress passed the “Protecting American Energy Production Act” on Friday. It says that the president can’t “declare a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing unless Congress authorizes the moratorium.”
There were 118 Democratic votes against the bill, but all Republican House members voted in favor of it.
Former President Joe Biden banned oil and gas drilling along 625 million acres of coastal and offshore waters just a few weeks before he left office. He also put in place other rules that related to oil and gas. The bill comes after what he did.
Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, the Republican who introduced the bill, said that it was needed because of concerns about possible fracking bans under Biden’s leadership. “When President Biden took office, his administration took a ‘whole of government’ approach to wage war on American energy production, pandering to woke environmental extremists and crippling this thriving industry,” Pfluger said in a statement after the bill was passed. “My legislation that passed today is a necessary first step in reversing Biden’s war on energy by preventing the federal government from banning the use of hydraulic fracturing,” he said.
As part of his “drill, baby, drill” plan, President Donald Trump has promised to use energy made in the US since he was running for office.
Next administrations would not be able to ban the drilling method if the president signs the bill into law.
On Monday, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum started an internal investigation into actions taken by the agency that “burden” energy development. This came after the energy sector was freed from “coercive” climate policies and oil lease bans put in place by the Biden administration.
This comes at the same time as a new national poll that shows most Democrats are unhappy with how their lawmakers are doing in Congress.
A survey from Quinnipiac University found that 53% of Democratic respondents didn’t think the Democrats in Congress were doing a good job, while only 41% said they were.
