Place two critical phone calls - to say END THE WAR, now - from United for Peace and Justice
While the
House leadership was sharply critical of recent reports by General Petraeus and
Ambassador Crocker, it now appears ready to give President Bush an
additional $172 billion in war funding.
Here's what we know about what they plan to bring
up for a vote:
1) On top of the $102 billion requested by
the Bush administration, the Democratic Party leadership is proposing to offer
an unsolicited, additional $70 billion to cover the first quarter war funding
for FY2009. In other words, this will be a whopping $172
billion!
2) This funding will
cover the rest of this fiscal year, which runs to Sept. 30th, and go well into
the next fiscal and calendar years. This means this would be the last
supplemental appropriation voted on before the November elections. If passed,
this funding will also carry over into the next presidency and the new
Congress.
3) There is speculation that the House version of the funding
bill will be "clean" and not have any other items attached to it. If this
happens there would be a straight up-or-down vote before it moves to the Senate
where additional spending is likely to be added.
4) According to the
Democratic leadership, this unconscionable allocation of $172 billion is an
attempt to avoid a presidential veto. However, President Bush has promised to
veto any war funding bill that exceeds $108 billion
dollars.
It appears that the decision to vote on such a
massive allocation of new funds now is based on the desire to remove the funding
issue from the electoral calendar, allowing Congress to shirk accountability for
continuing to fund the occupation and failing to end it. As the country heads
into the elections, we believe that every senator and representative should
stand up and be counted on the question of this war and how they intend to stop
it.
What the House leadership is doing is outrageous!
Their proposed funding will ensure the Bush administration's ability to
continue to execute the war and occupation in Iraq without any congressional
challenge, not even a debate.
Before it's too late, we urge you
to place two critical phone calls:
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at
202-225-0100
- Chair of the House Appropriations Defense
Subcommittee John Murtha at 202-225-2847
Tell them:
-
Another blank check of $172 billion for
this war is totally unacceptable. The Congress needs to act now to
bring the troops home! The people of this country -- the voters of this country
-- want the war to end!
-
While you support efforts to protect those hit hard
by the recession, the most direct way to do this would be to stop
sinking billions more of our tax dollars into war and redirecting it toward
providing for real safety and security -- jobs, healthcare, education,
civil infrastructure, etc.
Thank you for your critical efforts in keeping the
pressure on.
Yours, for peace and justice,
John Bruhns, Legislative Action Coordinator,
UFPJ |
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critical work: Make
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UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
PO Box 607;
Times Square Station; New York, NY 10108 |
Submitted by wnpj on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 2:35pm. |
