Casey, Toomey weigh in as Trump threatens military force
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Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators are weighing in on President Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to protests following the death of George Floyd.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, joined 20 other senators in sending a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper urging him to refrain from using the military to suppress the “peaceful, free expression of Americans who are exercising their civil liberties.”
Trump announced Monday from the Rose Garden he will deploy the military if governors fail “to take actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents.”
The Insurrection Act is an 1807 law that permits a president to use the U.S. military to suppress civil disorder.
“The military should never be weaponized by the President to limit these expressions for liberty and justice,” the Democratic senators wrote. “We believe it is antithetical to what those in uniform have sworn to protect and defend, and a serious threat to our democratic system.”
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, did not sign on to that letter, but appeared to be in agreement with the spirit of it.
“Senator Toomey believes law enforcement officers across Pennsylvania have done an excellent job in recent days under very difficult circumstances,” Bill Jaffee, Toomey’s press secretary, said in a statement to the Tribune-Review. “As long as law enforcement agencies and the Pennsylvania National Guard have the necessary resources, they should lead the response to violent riots in Pennsylvania.”
For his part, Esper disagrees with Trump, saying Wednesday he opposes using military forces for law enforcement in containing current street protests.
Esper said the Insurrection Act should be invoked in the United States “only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now.”
Esper strongly criticized the actions of the Minneapolis police for the incident that led to the protests. Floyd, a black man, died as a white officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. Esper called the act “murder” and “a horrible crime.”
In addition to Casey, those signing the letter to Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, included U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and Michael Bennet, D-Col.
The letter requests the Defense Department to provide information by Friday including whether it would deploy federal troops outside of the use of the Insurrection Act, whether the president would federalize National Guardsmen against the wishes of governors, and if deployments would ever include combat designated troops.