More than a dozen House Democrats are calling for the creation of a new, Cabinet-level department dedicated to preventing violence and fostering a culture of peace both domestically and abroad ― the latest effort by progressives to fight back against the Trump administration’s diplomatic shake-ups and targeting of marginalized groups within the United States.
The bill, introduced Friday by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), proposes the executive branch have a Department of Peacebuilding that aims to research, educate and implement initiatives like nonviolent conflict resolution and violence reduction into national and international policy. Peace is a “human right and a security issue,” according to the bill text first obtained Thursday by HuffPost.
“Violence is not only destroying lives, but it is draining our resources. Every dollar we invest in peacebuilding saves countless more by reducing crime, conflict and instability,” Omar said. “My hope is that our future generations inherit a world that values peace more than we have valued war.”
The White House did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Omar’s bill isn’t the first to propose creating a Department of Peacebuilding. In fact, Congress has seen similar bills at least three times before Friday’s. A year before voting against sending the military to Iraq in 2002, then-Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) proposed creating a Department of Peace. A version of that bill was introduced in each session of Congress since, until 2011.
A week after Kucinich introduced the bill again in 2005, Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) became the first senator to propose creating a Department of Peace. In 2013, then-Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced a House bill similar to Kucinich’s proposed legislation ― reintroducing itat least two more times before leaving Congress. Both Kucinich and Lee also opposed the Iraq War.
“For decades, Sen. Dayton and Reps. Kucinich and Lee stood on the side of peace, despite immense political pressure to do otherwise,” Omar said. “It is the greatest honor to pick up this mantle and continue the work they began.”
The Minnesota lawmaker’s bill ― which is backed by over a dozen progressives, some of whom had also co-sponsored the previous iterations of it ― comes on the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s comments this week publicly teasing the idea of ethnically cleansing Gaza, where until last month Israel was raining U.S.-made bombs that destroyed the territory and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The president claimed that he wants the U.S. to take control of Gaza, forcibly remove Palestinians and redevelop the territory.
According to Omar’s bill, the person who ends up leading the proposed department must help develop the training of all U.S. personnel who “administer post-conflict reconstruction and demobilization in war-torn societies.” They must also provide annual reports to the president regarding U.S. arms sales to other countries, and how those sales affect peace and security.
“Throughout the globe, starvation, rape, denial of media access to conflict zones, and dismantling of civic and societal infrastructures, including housing and healthcare, are utilized as weapons of war,” the bill said.
The U.S. has been at war for more than 90% of its existence, according to the Centre for Global Research. In this century alone, the U.S. has reportedly spent almost $8 trillion on foreign wars that have resulted in nearly 5 million dead.
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“Many Americans have never known a peaceful year in their lifetimes,” the bill said.
The proposed legislation also fights back against the Trump administration’s efforts to destabilize foreign relations, dehumanize immigrants and roll back education on U.S. history that involves violence against marginalized groups. The department would have to address the violence that racial, ethnic and LGBTQ communities have historically faced in the U.S. and what addressing that violence may look like.
Programs created by the proposed department must address “and ameliorate societal challenges such as school violence, gangs, police violence, hate crimes, economic injustice, human trafficking, racial or ethnic violence, violence against LGBTQ+ individuals, and police-community relations disputes.”