More problems may lie ahead for the U.S. Army's Twitch adventures, as Vice reports that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez intends to offer an amendment to the latest House spending bill that would "Twitch.com and any video game, esports, and live streaming platforms" to "maintain a presence on esports and live streaming platforms," and would prevent all branches of the military from using the funds.

The Army's problems began earlier this month when viewers of the esports team's Twitch channel began asking streamers (all Army members) about war crimes. Soon after, it came to light on the Army's channel that a promotional giveaway purporting to be a high-end wireless controller was actually connected to a recruitment form. And earlier this week, Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute said the Army may have violated the U.S. Constitution in violation of the First Amendment by deleting pesky questions about war crimes and banning users who persist in asking them.

Constitutional violations aside, the simple fact of recruiting through Twitch live streams and esports events is pretty gross. However, as the report in Vice points out, there is no guarantee that Ocasio-Cortez's amendment will actually be adopted. The House Appropriations and Rules Committee must first decide which amendment to advance. This process is scheduled to take place next week and must then pass through several committees before being voted on by the House and then the Senate. It is possible that the proposed amendment could fail in the process.

Even if it is adopted, the Army could take steps to get around it, perhaps by cutting it off from esports teams, following accusations that the ban on Twitch violates the First Amendment and changing the channel's description's reference to "The Army 's passion for gaming" to "Our member's passion for gaming" seems to have taken a step in that direction.

The amendment apparently targets the entire U.S. Army, and for good reason. While the Army has been in the limelight in recent weeks, the U.S. Navy and Air Force also run their own esports teams and Twitch channels, which have incomparably fewer followers. Ironically, the U.S. Marine Corps, which has momentum, does not: the Marine Corps rejected the idea earlier this year, "in part because it believes that the brands and issues associated with combat are too serious to be "gamified" in a responsible manner."

The Army's Twitch channel has been inactive for about two weeks. An Army representative told the Washington Post that the esports team has stopped streaming while it reviews "internal policies and procedures and all platform-specific policies."

Esports consultant Rod Breslau said on Twitter that the Army has indeed stopped all " official activities on Twitch, including social activities, streaming on Twitch, and participation in upcoming Twitch Rivals events," and that resumption could be in spring 2021.Kotaku separately verified this claim and quoted Breslau in a tweet and He reported seeing the same email.

Update: Ocasio-Cortez's amendment can now be found on the HR 7617 webpage and states: "In order to maintain the existence of Twitch.com or any video game, esports, or live streaming platform, this act None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act shall be used by the military."