Action Alert: Tell Congress to Stop Funding War
by Kevin Martin and Paul Kawika Martin
Instead of responding to President George “Commander Guy” Bush’s veto of the nearly $100 billion supplemental war funding bill with a proposal to only fund the safe and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops, contractors and bases from Iraq, the House of Representatives will vote Thursday or Friday on a plan to give Bush $40 billion now and force a second vote in July on the balance of the money. The second vote will be conditioned on “benchmarks” to be met by the Iraqi government.
Media reports will portray this as a crafty challenge to Bush by the congressional leadership (though early reports are the Senate will not take this approach, so a conference committee will presumably need to be called in the next week or so to reconcile the House and Senate bills).
Make no mistake, this is a vote to continue funding the war. Peace Action has never supported a dime for this war, and we’re not about to start now.
There will be many more rounds in this legislative saga this summer, and we will keep track of and work to impact the to-ing and fro-ing between Bush and Congress.
But we need to remain clear and consistent in our demands to Congress, and right now, today, is an opportunity to tell your representative you want this war to end – period.
Please call your representative today (you can reach him or her through the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121) and urge a vote against the supplemental appropriations bill that continues funding the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. While you’re at it, call back two more times and tell your Senators to bring our troops home for the holidays.
After calling, please leave us a post here to tell us how your call went.
called rep bobby jindal of la, non-committal but recognized moral obligation to rebuild what we destroyed.
I keep getting calls for action that involve making a telephone call. I recongize that phone calls do have important value but as a deaf person using the phone is a more involved process. I prefer email. So please include such options.
The person who answered the phone was very polite and said that she wold be happy to pass along my message to stop funding the war altogether and to bring the troops home for good for the holidays.
I need to let you know I cannot afford the phone calls, but have had quite a bot of luck with sending emails. So this to ask if an email would be okay with you, and to whom do you want them sent???? My reps are McCain, Kyl, and Renzi…… is that your target?
called Sen. Schumer. Call was received and recorded.
My congressman (Lee Terry) is red thru and thru and is afraid of
being perceived as not supporting our troops. He has taken a
“wait and see” approach to the surge. My senator (Ben Nelson)
drafted the benchmarks for Iraq in the proposed Senate Bill
and believes they are necessary!! He is not in favor of a
withdrawal deadline.
i often email,call rep.tim johnson and found reception of my call courteous as ever;even though i’m DEMOCRATIC and johnson is republican. plus,he almost ALWAYS ANSWERS ALL COMMUNICATIONS! obama and durbin do well,too. but never in my experience has anyone responded with letters like rep.tim johnson.
so. this call felt very good as TAKING ACTION ALWAYS FEELS GOOD. THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY. i did not call obama,durbin because i know they are doing all they feasibly can to get us out of iraq/avoid iran mistake. plus,on my first call i mistakenly got senator tim johnson-so got to wish him well. again,thankYOU. sincerely, joan fassett.
I told aids from Senator Stabenow and Carl Levin’s office that the most that I could support would be the idea to establish bench marks for the next three months along with giving half the funding. If these benchmarks are not met, absolutely do not give anymore funding.
I understand that a senator from Alaska wants to put forth legislation that will actually forbid Bush from continuing this war. I would also support that. How many years did the Vietnam War drag on because Nixon would not “share his SECRET plan to end it?” Once fooled, shame on them. Twice fooled, SHAME ON YOU!
I called the office of Rep. Arcuri. They were polite,as usual, but simply said they would pass the message to him/
Anything I can do to stop fundings in support of war or in support of GB’s incompetency, I’m in. Anything I can do from Canada?
Instead of responding to President George “Commander Guy” Bush’s veto of the nearly $100 billion supplemental war funding bill with a proposal to only fund the safe and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops, contractors and bases from Iraq, the House of Representatives will vote Thursday or Friday on a plan to give Bush $40 billion now and force a second vote in July on the balance of the money. The second vote will be conditioned on “benchmarks” to be met by the Iraqi government.
Media reports will portray this as a crafty challenge to Bush by the congressional leadership (though early reports are the Senate will not take this approach, so a conference committee will presumably need to be called in the next week or so to reconcile the House and Senate bills).
Make no mistake, this is a vote to continue funding the war. Peace Action has never supported a dime for this war, and we’re not about to start now.
There will be many more rounds in this legislative saga this summer, and we will keep track of and work to impact the to-ing and fro-ing between Bush and Congress.
I contacted the office of Rep. Todd Tiahrt and left my request to vote no on supplemental appropriations bill with a staff member.
I also contacted both senators, requesting them to bring our troops home for the holidays. The senators were Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback.
called Rep Kucinich D-OH (on our side already, needless to say)
called Sherrod Brown D-OH (also on our side, i believe)
called Sen George Voinovich R-OH (registered my call)
I called and asked them not to fund the war
I called my congressman (Baron Hill’s office) & was treated very cordially by the person w/ whom I spoke. I think his name was Peter, & he attended college here!
I called all three of my reps. I always leave a message to stop the war and all funding; and wonder if they are relaying it to their boss. I have pretty much given up calling Rep. Jean Schmidt; she is a bushie all the way and has no brain of her own.
Sen Voinovich is the same deal. I hope Senator Brown doesn’t give in and vote for funding. If things don’t change by the end of this year, I am changing to independent .
called … you should post the 800 # if you can, more will call.
IN MY OPINION, BUSH HAS POTENTIALLY PAINTED HIMSELF INTO A CORNER BY HIS VETO… CONGRESS SHOULD SUBMIT NO FURTHER LEGISLATION WITH WAR FUNDING TO HIM… HE VETOED FUNDING SO NOW IT IS HE WHO “DOESN’T SUPPORT” THE TROOPS… AS IF HE EVER DID.
CONGRESS’S BEST COURSE WOULD BE TO DO NOTHING… AND LET HIM DITHER….
I have sent a message through the wires to the Congressman’s hopeful heart and they have been waves of many different tides in this ocean of politics.
I was told by Congressman John McHugh’s office: “I’ll pass your thoughts on to the Congressman.” Same non-committal reply I got when I wrote to him recently about the Peace Tax proposal. hey, whaddya expect from a Bushie Republican war-hawk Armed services Committee member?
Peace Action Blog,
I knew Amy klobuchar before she was Senator. I sent her a personal letter that we retired 4th district UAW retirees will not stand for anything less then bringing our troops home from Iraq now. I expect her office to call me soon to discuss this important issue in detail. As a CAP UAW member we helped Oberstar into Congress and I met him in 1980 as we go way back so he owes us 35,000 UAW retirees as well. Senator Norm Coleman in my opinion is a Bush rubber stamp no hope there. I talked to him in the past. He loves power & Money!
As a wounded Vietnam Army MP/CID Soldier lifetime Member of Chapter #1 Disabled American Veterans and a Government Whistle Blower that recovered over $10,000,000.00 of your tax dollars from a Navy Contrator I can assure you I will do my part and more to stop this insanity. The only war on terror is in Bush, Cheney, Rice and the rest of these blood thirsty Hawks paranoid minds.
With Honor I Severed, Tom Seman, MN
They were very polite. but I don’t think they listened. I added a lot to asking to bring our troops home now. I was polite but determined. I doubt if it did much good since my representative is a leading republican. But I want peace now!
Contacted Congressman Richard Neal and spoke to an aide. He will pass on my message about my oppossing any new funding for the Iraq war.
I called Rep.Herseth-Sandlin, SD. The person who answered was non-committal, saying only that he would convey my message.
Not only are the people here at home suffering, so are our military families. The Army has cut my daughter’s COLA (cost of living allowance) in Europe because of the budget and funding problems, even though her cost of living has risen. Her husband is soon to deploy to Iraq for 15 months, and he has to leave knowing his young family is on shakey financial ground. Every single American is paying the high price of this tragedy in some way. We all need a solution now. “If you want Peace, embrace Mercy.” is my personal saying. War is the exact opposite of mercy. We need to bring out troops home, and begin building an ecomony that is not geared towards our young people having to enter the military in order to find secure careers with full benefits. This situation has been carefully constructed since the 1990’s. We need the strongest representatives who posess the strongest good characters and extreme bravery to face this mess and turn the tide.
Called my representative’s office and spoke with his aide who took the message but made no comment
My call went very well. I called Senator Patty Murray’s office and spoke with her representative, telling her to pass on the message not to vote for the continued funding of this insane war. She was very courteous and I heard her typing in the background after I had spoken, so I hope my comments will be communicated.
I called congresswoman Eshoo’s Palo Alto office and spoke to a staff person. He took my name and said he would pass message along
I am perfectly willing to send any number of emails to government officials. However, I am not willing to make phone calls. When you send an action alert to my email address, please include the option to contact our government through email. Please don’t silence our voices by failing to provide a venue for sending electronic mail. Thanks for your help.
good work going on here – nice one. you guys are definitely in the belly of a beast but catalysing positivity. Guessing you’re familiar with Baghdad Burning, but if you need any help motivating opposition to the ongoing Iraq invasion just check out and forward Riverbend’s latest 2 posts at http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ – it’s gut wrenching news from street level.
I could not call anyone ( congress or my senators ) to demand a non-funding and furtherance of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan due to lack of a cell phone.
In future, please provide websites for your directives in order to allow us electronic alternatives of contacting Congress and our senators.
The inability to make any telephone calls is profoundly regretted given our strong stance in opposition to these senseless wars that history has taught us are disgusting and futile tools to solve our problems.
Sincerely,
Njegann Patrick Njai
I called the offices of Paul Hoades, Judd Gregg, and John Sununu here in New Hampshire. The staff was polite when they took my name, address, and message (“I urge Mr. ____ to vote against the supplemental appropriations bill that continues funding the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and to bring our troops home for the holidays”). Otherwise, nothing to report.
I called Senator Stabenow’s office, and the Representative (from my district), Pete Hoekstra. Both offices had their usual lame “official” office staff answer.
I said, “I am a legal, US citizen, and registered voter.” I said, “Bring our troops home!” (with a stern voice).
Both staff members said, “I will pass the messege along.”
I sincerely doubt they’ll do diddly squat, that requires work…and, both staff members answered the same way. I would have been better off with an answering machine!
I just called my representative’s office (Brad Miller) and asked that he vote against any additional funding of the war. They asked for my name and address. I then called my senator’s offices (Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr) and did the same. Neither office asked me for any info but said they would relay my message. My youngest son, Lee, just recently deployed to Iraq two and a half weeks ago. He is only nineteen and will be twenty in June. I need him to come back home as soon as possible. This war has gone on long enough.
Called Inslee this a.m. Talked to an aide. She took my address &
e-mail. Vote failed, but I feel sure Inslee voted the right way.
Haven’t seen particulars of vote yet.
I called Sen Nelson, Fl, and left a message with an aide that I want war funding cut off. Th aide asked for my zip code and said he’ll pass the message along. I then called Rep Brown. I had a bit of conversation with the aide, that I thought after Congress passed the bill with the end date, they should say to Bush “We gave you the funding you asked for, but with an end date, and you didn’t like it – but too bad, that’s all your going to get”. The aide said they were trying to put together enough support to override the veto. I responded that I thought that was unnecessary, and that they should just not pass any more funding bills. I then tried to leave a message for Sen Martinez. I got to a voice mail box that was full, and could not leave a message.
if you cut off the funds for the troops you surrendering to the terriosts. you are also a tr
aitor. all the troops killed would be wasted.
michael mckenna
I completely support the action you are proposing, however I too use my computer via email to my representatives to communicate my feelings. I would most definitely contact my reps given that option. My personal experience when I have called in the past is a polite but obvious brush off. I want my wishes to be heard and want change to be given a chance. I hope you can provide an email option in the future. Good Luck with your efforts!
According to a BBc news report the GAo has found that While General Petreous was in charge of distributing small arms to the Iragi defense forces, procedures for accountability were not being followed, allowing several hundred thousand weapons (AK47s etc) to go to the insurgents, who are killing Iragi and American soldiers and citizens. Ignor9ing this mismanagement, the Administation promoted the General to be in charge of all US forces in Iraq. End the madness now! Court Martial the General who provided the weapons used against us through his incom[etense!
NOW HE WANTS MORE…$50 BILLION TO FUND THIS ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL WAR IN IRAQ. IT IS TIME FOR CONGRESS TO REMEMBER WHO ELECTED THEM IN NOVEMBER AND WHY THEY WERE ELECTED. STOP THE FUNDING STOP THE WAR STOP THE INSANITY. ONLY WE CAN UNITE AND PUT AN END TO THIS RECKLESS ADMINISRATION. BUSH MUST BE IMPEACHED. BUSH MUST STOP TAKING OUR TAX DOLLARS TO FUND THIS INVASION OF IRAQ UNDER WHAT HAS TURNED OUT TO BE FALSE AND MISLEADING PREMISES. WE HAVE REMOVED SADAAM…IT IS TIME TO TURN THE CONTROLS OVER TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE…WHOSE ADMINISTRATION MUST BE BACK BY TOMORROW AFTER THEIR MONTH LONG HOLIDAY. IT IS TIME TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME SAFELY AND END THE MADNESS.
Hi all!
Very interesting information! Thanks!
G’night