Following recent controversies surrounding the US military’s efforts to recruit teens via Twitch, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this week proposed an amendment that would have banned the armed forces from any further attempts. This evening, the proposal was voted down.
https://kotaku.com/amid-backlash-u-s-army-retreats-from-twitch-1844471907
When presenting the amendment, Ocasio-Cortez gave a speech where she outlined the way Twitch is full of kids as young as 12-13, and that service in the military is far too serious a concern to be “gamified” in the way the Army and Navy have recently been caught trying:
https://kotaku.com/u-s-navy-follows-army-in-banning-twitch-viewers-asking-1844445873
Despite this, and the fact that AOC’s own Democratic party controls the House, the amendment failed to pass when 103 Democrats joined Republicans in voting it down.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1288977791854182400
For her part, and aside from the larger issue of trying to take on the military industrial complex, AOC had other issues involved in trying to gather support for the amendment:
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1288971591968333826
The amendment specifically targeted the Pentagon’s budget, and would have stopped any funding being allocated towards recruitment efforts on Twitch.
