by Grace Cowell
Had I been told a few months ago that I would be celebrating my 20th birthday with the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation on Capitol Hill, I would not have believed it; however, I could not pass up the opportunity to travel to D.C. last week alongside six other activists representing MAPA and Jewish Voice for Peace.
Our lobby meetings, scheduled as a part of Peace Action’s Ceasefire Now Grassroots Advocacy Days, prioritized two pieces of legislation: the UNRWA Restoration Act of 2025 and the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) in both the Senate and House.
The UNRWA Restoration Act restores U.S. funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the backbone of humanitarian aid in Palestine and the broader regional diaspora, providing individuals essential support, including food, shelter, and medical assistance. The U.S., formerly the largest funder of UNRWA, froze its support in January 2024 after allegations that UNRWA employees were involved with Hamas and the October 7th attacks. All accused employees were fired, and all countries that paused funding have since resumed their financial support, except for the U.S.
There are nine remaining JRDs in the Senate, introduced by Sen. Sanders, and eight in the House, introduced by Reps. Jayapal and Tlaib. If passed, these pieces of legislation will block a proposed transfer of over $12 billion in U.S. weapons to Israel. Sen. Sanders forced a vote on two JRDs on April 3rd, however, only fifteen senators voted in favor, including both MA senators Warren and Markey. Targeted weapons are strictly offensive and have been used to take countless lives and destroy civilian infrastructure, including universities and hospitals.
Our framing for the UNRWA Restoration Act was centered around the humanitarian crisis the region is facing, as millions of Palestinians have been impacted by displacement, injury, and death in the 18 months since October 7th. In some of the meetings with less sympathetic legislators, we played videos portraying the destruction in the region. The JRD points tapped into the monetary aspect of how U.S. weapons and funds have been used to carry out this humanitarian crisis, expressing the anger many Americans are feeling as their hard earned tax dollars are funding another wealthy nation as they cause death and destruction, rather than addressing the many issues facing the U.S. today, such as the lack of affordable healthcare and education.
Additionally, we discussed the need for Congress to condemn repression and support free speech and the rights of student visa holders specifically in MA, especially following the disappearance of Tufts PhD student, Rumeysa Ozturk. Escalations in Yemen were also a focal point, as a letter in the House, signed by only Reps. Pressley and McGovern from MA, expressing concerns over such tensions and attacks like the one in the leaked Signal chat, was sent to the Trump Administration on April 9th.
Our meetings began on Tuesday, April 8th with an advisor to Rep. Neal, and continued through Thursday, April 10th as we spoke with MA legislators themselves or members of their staff about these issues in the Middle East. The group divided at one point, with half of us meeting with Sen. Warren’s staff, while the others met with Rep. Stephen Lynch. Other legislators with whom we met face to face included Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Jim McGovern, and Sen. Ed Markey, as well as briefly with Rep. Richard Neal.
We received a generally supportive response in regard to UNRWA, with even the legislators who were unclear about signing onto the JRDs expressing that their priorities lie with the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza and the broader region. Despite this support, still only Reps. Pressley, McGovern, and Lynch have cosponsored the UNRWA bill in the House and neither Senator has cosponsored the Senate counterpart. The aide of Rep. Clark explained that while the Congresswoman is in support of UNRWA, she will most likely not sign onto the bill because of her leadership position as the Minority Whip.
There was widespread backing for the students who are facing deportation and the revoking of their visas and student status. The entire delegation except for Reps. Neal and Keating signed onto a letter following the disappearance of Rumeysa Ozturk, which included a series of questions about the situation addressed to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Acting Director of ICE, and Secretary of State, to which they have yet to receive a response. Rep. McGovern explained his current communication with UMass Amherst and Worcester Polytechnic Institute students and administrators following the recent revoking of student visas on both campuses in his district. Rep. Pressley stated she has been actively in contact with Ozturk’s team, as well has Rep. Clark; both of whose districts encompass Tufts.
The JRDs received the least amount of enthusiasm, with only those who have already cosponsored – Reps. Pressley and McGovern – and who have voted in favor – Sens. Warren and Markey – showing any sign of support. Despite past votes, Sen. Warren’s staffer explained that serving as a leading voice in favor of the JRDs would not result in any more support or a different result than what exists under Sanders’ leadership. In our meeting with Sen. Markey, he told us that he was unaware of the other nine Senate JRDs and had yet to be approached by Sen. Sanders about them.
Beyond those four legislators, the other Reps. explained their reluctance to support the JRDs is due to what they believe is the threat Iran poses to Israel, meaning they think Israel needs U.S. weapons to defend themselves against Iran.
Perhaps the most disappointing meeting was with the staffers of Rep. Auchincloss. While most others were open about their support for at least humanitarian aid, Rep. Auchincloss’ staff gave no real indication on where they lie in regard to UNRWA, only telling us that they will assess all U.S. funding allocations when it is time for the ban on UNRWA support to be reconsidered. I did, however, appreciate our conversation about free speech and how the Congressman feels strongly that even if he disagrees with someone’s perspective, that person still has a right to share such a perspective and not be punished for it, like Rumeysa Ozturk.
Our meeting with Rep. Pressley was the most uplifting. She was eager to not only express her own support for Palestine, as she has cosponsored all eight JRDs and the UNRWA bill, but also hear what our group was experiencing as activists on the ground. She was particularly interested in our thoughts on the impact of the repression of political speech and whether or not it is making people fearful and quiet, or fired up and ready to act. The Congresswoman left us with an important message about being multipliers, a similar idea to what Sen. Markey shared with us about the need for more advocates.
Reflecting on my time on the Hill, while I felt as though we had solid dialogue with the delegation, there was not much energy in the majority of offices we visited. Not only were we feeling frustrated as activists, members of Congress seemed to feel frustrated as legislators. Those already backing the legislation we discussed held firm in their positions of support, but expressed to us that no matter their stance, they are still going to be in the minority of an already minority democratic party, as we clearly saw April 3 when only 15 out of 100 senators voted in favor of Sanders’ JRDs.
This was an interesting time to be in D.C., but despite the slight feelings of defeat, I left empowered by the dedicated MA lobby team and by the amount of action and support there is at the individual and grassroots levels to enforce an end to brutal violence. As Rep. Pressley told us, “courage is contagious.”
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Grace Cowell is a student at Northeastern University and a legislative intern at MAPA.