In the News

Members of Congress on Monday sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to delay a proposed $1.15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The letter, led by Rep. Ted W. Lieu (D-Calif.), was signed by 64 members and cited “concerns about Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.” Calling for “greater efforts to avoid civilian casualties,” the congressional leaders detailed the toll of the war on the population: “unlawful airstrikes” targeting hospitals and schools, the deaths of 3,704 civilians, and the displacement of 83 percent of the Yemeni population.

Today, Representatives Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) and Ted Lieu (CA-33) called on House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) to initiate an immediate investigation into the egregious overprescribing of opioid prescription painkillers and the inaction of Purdue Pharma and other pharmaceutical companies that may be aware of inappropriate opioid distribution by bad actors.

In a sign that frustration is growing in the U.S. Congress over Saudi Arabia, a bipartisan group of 60 lawmakers has signed a letter seeking to delay the Obama administration’s planned sale of $1.15 billion in arms and military equipment to Riyadh.

The letter, addressed to President Barack Obama, cites the growing number of civilian casualties in Yemen caused by the Saudi-led military coalition and the Obama administration’s failure to rein in its Arab ally.

“There appears to be a pervasive disregard for patient safety and public health by some within the pharmaceutical industry," Rep. Mark DeSaulnier and Rep. Ted Lieu said in calling for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to take action against the drugmaker.

Amnesty International has accused the U.S. of “deadly hypocrisy” for its massive arms deals with Middle East governments that have carried out war crimes and other violations of international law.

“One of the unspoken legacies of the Obama administration is the extraordinary uptake in the amount of U.S. weapons and military aid that are provided to major U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt that have terrible records when it comes to human rights,” explained Sunjeev Bery in an interview with Salon.

Two California representatives called Monday for a congressional investigation of opioid manufacturers, citing a Los Angeles Times investigation that found that the maker of OxyContin collected extensive evidence of criminal trafficking of its drug but in many cases did not alert law enforcement.

U.S. Representative Ted W. Lieu, from the 33rd District of California, called on the FCC to expedite the investigation it started on the Signaling System Seven (SS7) earlier this this April. The call comes after recent reports of alleged Russian hacking of members of the U.S. Congress.

The reported hack exposed the phone numbers of 180 members of Congress, among other sensitive information. Due to the SS7 flaw, it should now be relatively easy, especially for state-sponsored attackers, to intercept all of the conversations and messages sent by those phone numbers.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) is calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to accelerate its investigation of the Signal System 7 (SS7) flaw.

In a public letter to FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler, Lieu asked the agency head to “expedite” the ongoing investigation into the vulnerability. He warned that the “problem is no longer a theoretical threat,” noting that a breach of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) earlier this month released mobile phone numbers of House Democrats.