The congressional junket you can't refuse
Mary Jo Kilroy (a loyal Bad News reader) was elected to Congress at the height of the financial crisis, in November 2008, to represent Columbus, Ohio, and the surrounding area. She landed a seat on the Financial Services Committee, where she had a chance to address the foreclosure crisis ripping through her state, as well as to push for tougher regulation of Wall Street.
As she learned to navigate Washington during her first term, one of the more unexpected pressures she faced was not about the crumbling economy -- but about a foreign trip, one that is the subject of a story I published today at The Intercept with Akela Lacy.
It’s not just any congressional sojourn, but rather the regular trip to Israel organized by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and sponsored by the nonprofit arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. “I would say that I was ‘strongly encouraged’ to take the Steny Hoyer AIPAC trip. ‘Everyone’ is going except you,” recalled Kilroy, who resisted the pressure, telling AIPAC that she didn’t want to go on a one-sided tour of the region.
Ten years later, pressure on the incoming Democratic freshman class to sign up for Hoyer’s Israeli adventure has only grown more intense, particularly as AIPAC is determined to prove its continued relevance. A Democratic base increasingly wary of unchecked U.S. support for Israel has become more critical of the group, which has been unable to push through its signature piece of legislation, a bill that would criminalize or otherwise officially condemn participation in a boycott of Israel for its ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told The Intercept that incoming freshmen all receive general pressure to attend the AIPAC trip. “There is always sort of pressure for every member to go on the AIPAC trip, and I did not go on the AIPAC trip. I went on the J Street trip, and I’m really glad I did. I think that there should be more choice for people to go to Israel,” she said. “I think it’s important to go. But I think people should go being comfortable with who they go with, and not everybody should have to go on the AIPAC trip.”
The U.N. today released its report on the execution of Jamal Khashoggi, and finds Saudi Arabia guilty of the heinous crime. The nation’s Crown Prince is unlikely to face consequences in terms of the U.S.-Saudi relationship as long as Trump is in office.
In my book, I write about a lunch I had with Jamal just weeks before he was chopped into pieces. He was hoping to start writing columns for The Intercept as well as the Post, and it was something I would have been happy to make happen, had he survived.
I was on San Francisco’s NPR station to talk about the book, and the program is now online here.
Which reminds me: Don’t forget to buy the book if you haven’t yet! And if you already read it and liked it, please leave a review. The other thing you can do, next time you’re in your local library or bookstore, is ask if they’re stocking it, and have a public meltdown if they’re not. (I’m not responsible for anything that might result from taking this bad advice.)