Pressley Continues to Demand Trump Admin. Surge Aid, Infant Formula into Gaza

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Congresswoman Delia Ramírez (IL-03), actors Cynthia Nixon and Morgan Spector, Mahmoud Khalil, Dr. Adil Husain, Congressional colleagues, and advocates to call for the passage of H.R. 3565, The Block the Bombs Act, to save lives. The Block the Bombs Act would withhold the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli government and demand the Israeli military’s compliance with U.S. and international law. 

Last month, Rep. Pressley and Rep. Brittany Pettersen (CO-07) led 101 of their colleagues in calling on the Trump Administration to use its full power and authority to demand that Israeli government immediately facilitate a massive surge in all humanitarian aid, and in particular infant formula, into Gaza to address the crisis of starvation. After receiving no response and no action from Secretary Marco Rubio, Reps. Pressley and Pettersen condemned his silence and renewed their call for an immediate surge in infant formula and humanitarian aid.

A full transcript of the Congresswoman’s remarks at the press conference is available below, and full video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Urges Passage of Block the Bombs Act, Demands Aid and End to Genocide in Gaza
September 10, 2025
Washington, DC

I come to this as a woman of faith and I can’t help but to revisit the psalm that I learned as a child, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

There has been no joy. For 23 months, there has only been weeping.

And in that time, 20,000 children have been robbed of their lives. One Palestinian child is killed every hour. A thousand of those children have been under the age of one.

James Baldwin reminds us that “the children are always ours, every one of them, all over the world, always.”

There is something about being a parent, either by blood or bond, that can radicalize you for good if you let it.

It will embolden you in ways you never imagined.

And once you start to connect that every child is a universe, every child is someone’s whole world, you cannot unsee how connected our shared humanity truly is.

Right now in Gaza, babies are dying, killed by airstrikes and military blockades.

No child should die of starvation as food and baby formula sit mere miles away, held back by the Israeli military from dying families.

No child should shake in their sleep as bombs erupt overheard or plead to die with their parents so they are not left alone.

For nearly two years, we have watched a genocide unfold in real time.

I am devastated by every child, elder, parent and loved one who has been murdered – Israelis, Palestinians and Americans.

The cruelty taking place in Gaza is unfathomable. Death by starvation. Death by airstrike. Death by military firing squad.

Shamefully, the United States has not only turned away, it has manufactured and delivered the very weapons that rain down on innocent civilians. Entire families have been murdered.

Entire families have been murdered—from infants to elders and every generation in between.

For months now, we have called for an embargo on offensive weapons. Thank you to my sister Congresswoman Ramirez for her leadership and her clarity in introducing H.R. 3565 affirming our calls.

The United States must stop sending bombs.

We have called for a critical surge of humanitarian aid, medical equipment, food, and baby formula.

Last month, I led a letter, 100 Members of Congress joined with me to call on Secretary Rubio to use the full authority of the United States government to pressure Israel to surge ready-to-feed baby formula to families who need it desperately.

Secretary Rubio is a father.

Surely, Secretary Rubio, you must know the panic of fumbling for a bottle to feed a hungry child in the middle of the night.

Now, imagine, Secretary Rubio, if what stood between you and soothing your baby was a military blockade.

Can you? Can you imagine it?

Because you still have not responded in word or action.

To date, you have ignored the House and the Senate calling on you to act and respond.

Every day that you fail to act costs precious lives.

Our humanity is at stake here. Vengeance and greed cannot be the United States’ policy doctrine.

No country can bomb their way to peace. Starving a child is violent. And the children are all of ours, always.

History has its eyes on us. Our children will ask what we did in this moment. And the only acceptable answer is absolutely everything that we could.

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Relevant background regarding Rep Pressley’s work

Rep. Pressley has long advocated for safe and accessible baby formula. Rep Pressley has consistently called for peace and a ceasefire in Gaza to save the lives of civilians, hostages, Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans.

In May 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with and Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16)  and Grace Meng (NY-06), urged President Biden to use all applicable executive authorities to end the baby formula shortage. In May 2022, Rep. Pressley, along with Rep. Lori Trahan (MA-03), Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (MA-05) and the Massachusetts delegation, sent a letter to Abbott Laboratories Chairman and CEO Robert Ford requesting urgent information on the company’s plans to replenish its Similac baby formula in Massachusetts.

Since the horrific October 7^th attack, Congresswoman Pressley has consistently and stridently called for a ceasefire to save lives, return all hostages, and surge humanitarian aid to Gaza. Rep. Pressley delivered a floor speech in which she called for urgent de-escalation in the region and renewed her calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel to prevent a broader regional war.  Rep. Pressley introduced a pair of amendments to increase funding to global humanitarian assistance and place a one-year moratorium on the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli military.

• Rep. Pressley joined Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-MI) and their colleagues on a resolution condemning Hamas’ brutal attack and hostage-taking, and demanding Hamas immediately release all hostages.
• Rep. Pressley joined Reps. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), James P. McGovern (MA-02), and 50 colleagues on a letter condemning the terrorist attacks by Hamas on the people of Israel, calling for Israeli military operations to follow the rules of international humanitarian law, and continuing to work toward peace in the region.
• Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues in announcing a resolution urging the Biden Administration to call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and Gaza, to send humanitarian aid and assistance to Gaza, and to save as many lives as possible. She later joined her colleagues and a multi-faith, multiracial coalition of faith leaders and organizers for a prayer and press conference to renew their calls for a ceasefire. Rep. Pressley also joined dozens of rabbis and Members of Congress for a press conference to renew calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Instead of attending Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress, Rep. Pressley spent the day centering people directly impacted by Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza
• Rep. Pressley delivered a floor speech in which she condemned antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate on college campuses.
• Rep. Pressley joined a coalition of nearly 100 interfaith clergy and faith leaders on a joint statement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined Reps. Grace Meng (D-NY), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and nearly 150 colleagues in urging the State Department to use all tools at its disposal help get Americans out of Israel and back home to the United States. She applauded the State Department for heeding her calls on October 12, 2023 and continues to press for the urgent evacuation of Americans in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement following the safe evacuation of Massachusetts constituents Wafaa and Abood Okal and their one-year-old Yousef from Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley and Rep. Jamie Raskin led a group of 60 House lawmakers in urging the State Department to affirm the United States’ strong opposition to the forced and permanent displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and to support an increase in humanitarian aid to the region.
• Rep. Pressley joined Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Mark Pocan (WI-2), Betty McCollum (MN-4) and 20 of their colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden, asking him to support a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza to protect the one million children living there.
• Rep. Pressley joined a coalition of interfaith clergy and faith leaders for a vigil to mourn the tens of thousands of Palestinians, Israelis, and innocent civilians killed since October 7^th, and to renew calls for a ceasefire to save lives, return all hostages, and deliver humanitarian aid to the region.
• Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues at a press conference to condemn the Israeli government’s pending invasion of Rafah and continued her calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues in calling for full funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to provide urgent humanitarian relief to Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined Representatives Joaquín Castro, Jamie Raskin, Jan Schakowsky and 33 House Democrats to President Biden urging him to prevent an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah.
• Rep. Pressley, amid heightened tensions in the region, delivered a floor speech in which she called for urgent de-escalation in the Middle East and renewed her calls for a ceasefire in Gaza to prevent a broader regional war.
• Rep. Pressley filed a pair of amendments to increase funding to global humanitarian assistance and place a one-year moratorium on the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli military. The amendments were not adopted in the final legislation. 
• Rep. Pressley voted against HR 8034 to send more offensive weapons and funding to the Israeli military, citing the Israeli military’s callous disregard for human life in Gaza and significant human rights violations.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the peaceful student protests taking place in Massachusetts and across the country.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement applauding the Boston City Council for passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Madeleine Dean (PA-04) and 54 additional lawmakers in calling on the Biden Administration to use all tools possible to dissuade the Israeli government from moving forward with an offensive invasion into Rafah.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement in response to the escalating situation in the Middle East.
• Rep. Pressley joined impacted families, faith leaders, and advocates to observe the anniversary of the horrific October 7, 2023 attack and commemorate the 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas, the hostages killed and those still kidnapped, and the over 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed by the Israeli military over the past year.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the horrific October 7^th attack.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement urging the Senate to support Senator Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval that would block the sale of offensive arms to the Israeli government.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the ceasefire-hostage deal reached between Israel and Hamas in January 2025.

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