U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) announced Tuesday on social media: “Congress controls the purse. That’s not a suggestion. It’s the Constitution. The Trump Administration moved $1.25 billion to his ‘Board of Peace’ with no congressional authorization. I introduced the PEACE Act to put a stop to it.”
Congress controls the purse. That’s not a suggestion. It’s the Constitution.
The Trump Administration moved $1.25 billion to his “Board of Peace” with no congressional authorization. I introduced the PEACE Act to put a stop to it.
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) April 13, 2026
According to the press release, the Prohibiting Expenditures for an Accountability-Circumventing Entity (PEACE) Act will:
“Prohibit any federal funds from being appropriated or made available to the Board of Peace without a separate act of Congress specifically authorizing it;
Strip the Board of Peace and its personnel of any privileges, exemptions, or immunities granted under the International Organizations Immunities Act, which the administration’s executive order improperly invoked;
Require the administration to submit to Congress within 60 days a strategy detailing how already-obligated funds will advance sustainable peace;
Direct the Secretary of State to report to Congress within 60 days on the Board of Peace’s progress toward achieving sustainable peace in Gaza.”
MAGA loyalists are replying to Kelly’s PEACE Act with criticism and comments like “Now the Democrats are defunding peace? Got it,” while critics of the Trump administration are encouraging Kelly to “Don’t just put a stop to it, get our damn money back.”
Reuters reported this week that “Trump’s Board of Peace has received only a tiny fraction of the $17 billion pledged for Gaza, preventing the U.S. president from pushing ahead with his plan for the shattered Palestinian enclave’s future.”
The Board of Peace, which prominently features numerous Gulf Arab nations, met less than two weeks before the U.S. and Israel began a massive bombing campaign in Iran, which retaliated with attacks on some of its Gulf neighbors and Board of Peace members, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.