September 08, 2025

Casten Offers NDAA Amendment to Address Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 that would prohibit funds from being sent to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organization at the center of the starvation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The amendment also directs the State Department to ensure humanitarian assistance for Gaza is coordinated through established international organizations.

GHF is a private group supported by U.S. security contractors with no prior experience in humanitarian aid and operates under opaque funding arrangements. GHF received a $30 million grant from the State Department, despite significant internal objections from USAID officials that the group’s funding plan failed to meet the “minimum technical or budgetary standards.” The private firms contracted by GHF to manage distribution sites in Gaza have no prior experience in humanitarian work.

There has also been disturbing violence at GHF distribution sites, where flawed distribution methods have caused mass panic and mass casualties.

GHF operates only four aid distribution sites in Gaza using a reckless first-come, first-served model that has resulted in deadly chaos. At least 1,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed while attempting to access aid near GHF sites, with reports describing Israeli soldiers and U.S. contractors opening fire on desperate civilians.

In July 2025, Rep. Casten led 92 House Democrats in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding an investigation into the ownership structure and operation of GFH.

Specifically, Rep. Casten’s amendment would:

  1. Prohibit funding from being obligated or expended to provide assistance for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

  2. Direct the State Department to ensure that humanitarian assistance for Gaza is coordinated exclusively through established international organizations with demonstrated capacity, accountability, and transparency, including but not limited to the United Nations agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other recognized nongovernmental organizations with longstanding operational presence in the region.

  3. Ensure that counterterrorism safeguards are in place and that assistance is only provided to organizations that—

    1. have not been found to provide material support to, or otherwise knowingly employ or affiliate with, individuals or entities designated as foreign terrorist organizations pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189); and

    2. maintain appropriate vetting, compliance, and oversight mechanisms to prevent the diversion of assistance to such individuals or entities.

Text of the amendment can be found here.

 

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