Latest news with #RogerWicker
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US senators introduce bipartisan resolution demanding return of abducted Ukrainian children
Washington, D.C. — In a rare display of bipartisan unity, a group of U.S. senators has introduced a resolution calling for the return of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, urging that no peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine be finalized until all minors are safely repatriated. The resolution condemns what it describes as Russia's systematic abduction, forced transfer, and illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. It states that "Russia's abduction and Russification of Ukrainian children demonstrate Russia's intent to erase the Ukrainian nation and identity." The effort is being led by a group of six senators, including Republicans Charles E. Grassley, Roger Wicker, Joni Ernst, and Rick Scott, and Democrats Amy Klobuchar, Dick Durbin and John Fetterman. The resolution underscores that the invasion of Ukraine has increased the vulnerability of children to multiple threats, noting that the "invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation has significantly increased the risks of children being exposed to human trafficking and exploitation, child labor, sexual violence, hunger, injury, trauma, deprivation of education and shelter, and death." According to Ukrainian authorities, as of April 16, more than 19,500 children have been confirmed as unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred to Russia, Belarus, or areas of Ukraine under Russian occupation. So far, only 1,274 have been returned to Ukrainian-controlled territories. Read also: Because of Russia, my child understood fear early The resolution frames the abduction of children as a violation of international humanitarian law and the Genocide Convention, citing Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article II(e) of the Genocide Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer of children from one group to another. The U.S. State Department's 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report has also documented Russia's recruitment of child soldiers and described the country as a global epicenter for state-sponsored human trafficking. Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based nonprofit supporting Ukraine, has endorsed the resolution. The organization stated, "This is an important step in President Donald Trump's March 19 promise to ensure Ukrainian children abducted by Russia are returned to their families. By kidnapping over 19,546 children from Ukraine, Russia is simultaneously erasing these children's identities as Ukrainians while holding them hostage. The United States must say clearly that children are not bargaining chips and must be returned immediately." Ambassador John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said that "Ukraine's kidnapped kids are counting on Congress and President Trump to insist that Moscow free them. Full stop." "According to available data, Russia has abducted more than 19,400 Ukrainian children since 2022 — an outrageous crime. Freeing Ukraine's children should be a prerequisite to any negotiations, and I thank President Trump for expressing his desire to help free Ukraine's children." Mykola Kuleba, CEO and founder of Save Ukraine and former ombudsman for children in Ukraine, emphasized the urgency of returning the children. "As a nonprofit leader working to rescue and reunite these children with their families, I'm grateful for every voice raised on their behalf. We deeply appreciate leaders urging action to ensure that these children are safely returned with urgency," he said. The resolution also references earlier remarks by former President Donald Trump, who has claimed he could persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the abducted children. "President Trump help make sure those children were returned home," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and then-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz at the time. In 2022, Putin signed a decree that made it easier for Russian families to adopt Ukrainian children. The Russian government revised its adoption laws to fast-track the placement of abducted children with Russian families, often after stripping them of their names, language, and national identity. The State Department's Conflict Observatory reports that at least 35,000 children have been affected by these forced transfers. Researchers say the data is vital to Ukraine's ongoing efforts to locate and repatriate abducted children. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their roles in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. The United States has also sanctioned at least 32 individuals and three Russian entities for their involvement in these abductions and related human rights violations. The bipartisan resolution signals that both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are united in condemning Russia's actions and in demanding the immediate return of Ukraine's children. Read also: As Russia trains abducted children for war, Ukraine fights uphill battle to bring them home We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Associated Press
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
A resolution to roll back rubber tire manufacturing emissions rules heads to Trump's desk
DETROIT (AP) — Congress has voted to kill a Biden-era rule requiring rubber tire makers to clean up planet-warming emissions from their manufacturing processes in the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized rules for the rubber tire industry, specifically previously unregulated rubber processing, last November through amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. Tires are made of chemicals, compounds and materials that release greenhouse gases, heavy metals and volatile organic compounds, experts say. Republican Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith, alongside South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, also Republicans, introduced a resolution to undo the rules earlier this year and it advanced through the Congressional Review Act, which allows for an fast-tracked reversal of certain federal agency's rules. The vote passed in the House on March 5 and the Senate on Tuesday. The measure heads to the president's desk for signing next. The standards regulate other so-called 'source categories' including asbestos, asphalt roofing processing and manufacturing, dry cleaning, petroleum refineries, other chemical production and processes and more, which — in addition to the environmental concerns — can cause cancer and other serious health impacts, according to the EPA. The rubber rule resulted from a court decision that required the EPA to address unregulated emissions from source categories upon the agency's technology reviews as required by the Clean Air Act. Plaintiffs in the case included the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, a nonprofit organization representing communities located near historically dirty air. Aimed at meeting Clean Air Act requirements, the EPA said at the time that the rubber rule changes would cut total hydrocarbons and filterable particulate matter — or solids that can be captured on a filter, known as fPM — emissions by approximately 171 tons per year. Industry stakeholders have argued that tire factories would be required to install costly 'regenerative thermal oxidizers,' new air pollution control equipment that destroys HAPs and VOCs, that would increase carbon emissions and, because of the expense, harm American manufacturing jobs. The nation is home to major tire makers including Michelin North America, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, and Goodyear, in Akron, Ohio. The two companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The measure marks the latest of this administration's efforts to deregulate industry in the name of bolstering American manufacturing. The EPA first said it would reconsider NESHAP regulations for rubber tire manufacturing and other notable industries as part of a 31-action deregulation blitz announced on March 12. Republicans have generally been using the Congressional Review Act to wage an assault on the previous administration's many efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Griffith said in a statement Tuesday that, 'Like many of the regulations issued during the waning days of the Biden-Harris Administration, the rubber tire manufacturing emission standard utilized questionable emissions data and pointed to negligible health benefits as justification for the rule.' He said the rule did not serve public health. The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association said the vote 'reduces financial burdens on tire manufacturing facilities.' 'Tire manufacturers have long understood and complied with' existing standards, Anne Forristall Luke, president and CEO of the industry group said in a statement . To the group, the November rule 'creates an adverse environmental impact, while imposing significant financial burdens on tire manufacturing facilities and providing negligible, if any, benefits.' But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, called the measure 'yet another of many attempts to unravel protections for human health and the environment' and part of an 'endless quest to accommodate the countries' biggest polluters.' Ahead of Tuesday's vote, Whitehouse said on the Senate floor that the resolution 'would deny clean air protections to the American people with particular harm to American children whose lungs and brains, still developing, are most vulnerable to the effects of these pollutants.' ___ Read more of AP's climate coverage at . ___ Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn . Reach her at [email protected] . ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
Wall Street Journal
30-04-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Finally, a GOP Boost for Defense
Republicans are rolling out details of their tax and budget bill, and some early good news is that it includes a cash infusion to arrest U.S. military decline. Whatever the diplomatic whirlwinds from the Trump Administration, the GOP is putting down a marker that America isn't checking out from the world and will defend its interests. The House and Senate Armed Services committees have unveiled plans for a one-time $150 billion increase in defense spending as part of a reconciliation bill. The House advanced its bill in committee on Tuesday with a bipartisan 35-21 vote. GOP Sen. Roger Wicker calls the money a 'generational upgrade' for U.S. military forces, and it's certainly a good start.
Forbes
26-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Adding $150 Billion to the Pentagon Budget Will Waste Funds Without Improving Our Defenses
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 11: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) speaks to the press on the transparency from ... More the Department of Defense regarding the health of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on January 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. Secretary Austin was hospitalized for surgery relating to prostate cancer, which was not reported for several days. (Photo by Anna) Even as President Trump and secretary of defense Pete Hegseth talk of a post-World War II record $1 trillion Pentagon budget request for fiscal year 2026, majorities in both houses of Congress are seeking a multi-year, $150 billion plus up to the department's resources via a separate route known as reconciliation – a procedure that allows the majority to push through legislation without fear of a filibuster. Critics of the plus up question the need to throw more money at a defense industrial base that is currently maxed out, especially as benefits for veterans and military families could be subject to reductions. An effective military ultimately depends on well-trained, well-motivated people. Preferencing hardware over the needs of current and former members of the military would be both misguided and potentially harmful to the morale of the force going forward. While contractors are poised to get a multi-billion dollar pay day, veterans and military personnel will be neglected, or worse. Only about 6 percent of the $150 billion proposed plus up in Pentagon spending will go to help military personnel. As for veterans, even before the reconciliation bill began to be debated the administration had announced plans to cut 80,000 jobs at the Veteran's administration, a body that is already struggling to get benefits to former service members in a timely fashion. And since the vast majority of VA personnel are involved with providing health care, those services are likely to be harder to come by. Other blows do veterans services include moves that would reduce staffing at suicide hotlines for veterans and defund basic research relevant to veterans health and safety. Meanwhile, a source close to the negotiations told Congressional Quarterly that the biggest increases in the proposed reconciliation bill will go to shipbuilding ($29 billion), the president's Golden Dome missile defense initiative ($27 billion), munitions ($20 billion), nuclear weapons ($14 billion), emerging military technology ($14 billion), and 'air superiority' ($11 billion). In short, something for everyone, if you happen to be a weapons contractor. Perhaps not coincidentally, the two biggest categories of proposed new spending will disproportionately funnel revenue to companies in the home states of the two main proponents of the bill, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.). Ingalls Shipbuilding employs 11,000 workers at its Pascagoula, Mississippi facility, and Huntsville, Alabama is known as 'Rocket City' because of the large cluster of companies that build missiles and missile defense systems there. The main winners from increased shipbuilding funds will be Virginia (HII corporation's Newport News Facility that builds aircraft carriers and attack submarines), Connecticut (General Dynamics' Electric Boat ballistic missile submarine plant), and Maine (General Dynamics Bath Shipyards plant). Golden Dome funds will help both old guard contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing that already make interceptors, satellites, and communications systems relevant to missile defense, and emerging military tech firms like Anduril, which has won contracts for anti-drone technology. As Congress considers showering the Golden Dome project with taxpayer funds, members should consider that the vast majority of independent scientific experts believe that a foolproof defense system against all forms of missile attack - especially high speed ICBMs – may be physically impossible, not to mention exorbitantly expensive. As Laura Grego of the Union of Concerned Scientists has noted, '[i] t has been long understood that defending against a sophisticated nuclear arsenal is technically and economically unfeasible.' And allocating more money for nuclear weapons when systems like the Northrop Grumman's Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system are 81% over its original cost estimate will be throwing good money after bad. Meanwhile, given Boeing's dismal record of performance problems and cost overruns on both civilian airliners and defense systems like the Osprey aircraft and the KC-46 refueling tanker, accelerating spending on the company's new F-47 combat aircraft program is not prudent. The Pentagon and its contractor network are having a hard time spending existing funds well. Congress should think twice before sending more taxpayer money their way. We need a smarter, more realistic defense plan grounded in a well-compensated, well-trained defense force far more than we need to give additional billions to weapons makers that are already struggling to produce affordable, effective defense systems.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How much of a threat are Chinese hypersonic missiles to U.S. Navy ships and sailors?
China has 'the world's leading hypersonic missile arsenal' that can threaten U.S. Navy ships, according to the Defense Department's most recent report on Chinese military power. Hypersonic weapons fly at between five and 10 times the speed of sound, and their ability to change course mid-flight makes it difficult to shoot them down. Over the past 20 years, China's military has 'dramatically advanced its development of conventional and nuclear-armed hypersonic missile technologies,' including the YJ-21 hypersonic missile, which is designed to target aircraft carriers, the Defense Department's report says. The report does not include an estimate of how many hypersonic missiles are in the Chinese military's arsenal, and a Pentagon spokesman was unable to provide any additional information on the matter. A primary fear that U.S. warplanners have of hypersonic weapons is the threat they pose to U.S. Navy ships. Current Navy defenses are designed to shoot down drones, attacking bombs, and cruise and ballistic missiles. But those defensive systems may be less effective against hypersonic weapons, which fly as low as planes, travel as fast missile and maneuver on their way to the targets. They pose a risk to ships ranging in size from aircraft carriers to destroyers and increase the likelihood that the Navy would suffer losses in a conflict against China not seen since World War II. To face Chinese hypersonic missiles, a U.S. Pacific Fleet Spokesperson said the service has a variety of capabilities 'to deter, defend against, and, if necessary, defeat aggression,' without providing specific details. 'We are a professional maritime force – ready to respond to any contingency at any time – whether that aggression is against the U.S. or one of our allies and partners,' the spokesperson said in a statement to Task & Purpose. 'Additionally, we are investing in mission-critical capabilities of our own including hypersonic weapons, advanced ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] platforms, unmanned systems, and resilient C4I [command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence] networks that directly address regional anti-access/area denial challenges and defense capabilities.' The threat posed by Chinese hypersonic missiles also requires the U.S. military to develop new countermeasures, said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 'President Trump has the exact right idea with Golden Dome,' Wicker said in a statement to Task & Purpose. 'Using our defense reconciliation bill, we are going to accelerate dramatically the development of anti-hypersonic missile defenses. We will build everything from interceptors to capabilities that can confuse and blind the Chinese targeting sensors.' The way that hypersonic missiles approach their targets makes it hard to intercept them, said retired Navy Capt. Thomas Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, D.C. Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons do not follow a predictable trajectory, Shugart told Task & Purpose, and they can maneuver in ways that make them difficult to detect and anticipate where they will hit. 'A ballistic missile is going to go up out of the atmosphere, which puts it pretty high over the horizon, and you should be able to see it on radar as soon as it goes above the horizon a pretty good ways away, depending on the type of radar you have to detect it,' Shugart said. 'A hypersonic missile, on the other hand, skims along the top of the atmosphere. So, it stays a lot lower, closer to the Earth's surface, than a ballistic missile does, which means it pops over the horizon a lot later than a ballistic missile would. So, you're going to have less time to shoot at it, less time to have it on radar and react to it.' All of this poses extreme challenges for Navy air defense missiles, such as the ones being used against Houthi missiles and drones in the Red Sea. But hypersonic missiles also use a seeker to home in on their targets, and that could potentially be a vulnerability, Shugart said. The Navy could use 'soft kill' defenses against hypersonic missiles to jam their seekers or use chaff and flares to throw them off target, Shugart said. Information about Navy sensors and jammers is highly classified, Shugart said, so it is hard to determine from open sources how effective such defenses would be against hypersonic missiles. Whichever method the Navy uses to defend against hypersonic weapons, sailors will have much less time to react than they would against other types of missiles, he said. For decades, weapons makers in China have had their eyes directly on U.S. Navy warships. Hypersonic weapons represent the latest technological advancement in China's arsenal of anti-ship weapons, said Timothy R. Heath, a senior international defense researcher with the RAND Corporation. China has long worked to build an arsenal of anti-ship cruise missiles. First developed in the 1970s, cruise missiles travel much slower than ballistic missiles and are easier for the Navy to shoot down with standard missiles and the Close-in Weapon Systems, or CIWS, Heath told Task & Purpose. Still, cruise missiles can be highly dangerous to modern ships, especially when launched in large salvos, because they are cheaper, maneuverable, and more accurate than ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The threat of anti-ship ballistic missiles, which emerged in the 1980s, marked a revolution in China's ability to strike U.S. Navy ships. Missiles like the DF-21D and DF-26, combine a ballistic missiles' speed and the ability to deploy decoys that can confuse U.S. defenses. Many U.S. defense analysts recommend that the Navy keep its aircraft carriers out of range of China's Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles. 'Hypersonic weapons offer an evolution in the threat by giving the missiles the ability to maneuver to a limited extent during the mid-course flight, which is when such missiles can travel well above Mach 5,' Heath said. 'This makes the hypersonic missiles even more difficult to counter as new defenses will be needed that do not rely just on anticipating a ballistic trajectory.' It's possible that in a future conflict U.S. Navy aircraft carriers could have to face an attack from ballistic and hypersonic missiles simultaneously, each coming from different trajectories, said M. Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Still, the U.S. military could try to disrupt the process involved in targeting and guiding missiles to their targets, known as the 'kill chain,' Fravel told Task & Purpose. 'The robustness of China's kill chain is not impervious, and, assuming that the general location of a carrier could be identified, a lot would still depend on terminal guidance and comms, which could be jammed, etc.,' Fravel said. While hypersonic missiles certainly increase the risk that U.S. Navy ships would face in a war against China, no true expert would argue '100% the carrier is dead,' Shugart said. 'Quite frankly, the carrier has been under threat from one weapons system or another for generations,' Shugart said. 'The difference, I think, is that the level or risk has certainly gone up.' Despite the Navy's countermeasures against enemy missiles, there are far more satellites in orbit now, making it easier for a near-peer adversary to target U.S. ships, Shugart said. Artificial intelligence may make it easier for China to pore through satellite images to locate Navy aircraft carriers. China can also launch a missile attack against a U.S. aircraft carrier group from land, whereas the Soviets during the Cold War relied on Backfire bombers, which would take much longer to launch en masse, Shugart said. As the ranges of Chinese weapons continue to increase, U.S. ships in the Western Pacific will increasingly be at risk, he said. 'If we get into a war with China, we should expect to lose some carriers,' Shugart said. 'But if we got into a war with any great power, I would expect to lose some carriers. The question is: Are the objectives we're trying to fulfill going to be worth it in the view of the American public and its political leadership.' Navy fires commanding officer, command master chief of expeditionary security squadron The Marine Corps has settled the debate over the size of a rifle squad Leg day: Army cuts down on number of paid parachutists Navy commissions its newest submarine, the USS Iowa Why veterans are the real target audience for 'Helldivers 2'
