Help me flip more Republican Senators
As one of you said in the comments on my Friday night post, “so long we have waited for progress on nuclear disarmament!”
Thanks to all who wrote me sharing your excitement about the crucial step we took towards ratifying the first disarmament treaty in decades.
On Thursday we jumped a major hurdle by getting the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty out of committee, but now comes the biggest test of all. It takes 67 senators to ratify a treaty. So that means we need seven Republican senators to cross the aisle and vote for this treaty.
I can almost guess what you’re thinking. “It can’t be done, Katie! Bipartisanship is dead!” After all, we’ve all seen how ugly our political system has become.
But the thing is, we are already doing it.
Peace Action West pulled together 24 organizations in coalition to form a national phonebank, and we generated more than 4700 calls to key Republican Senators in just a few weeks. Our efforts are paying off, because two days ago, Republican Senators Corker (TN) and Isakson (GA) flipped and voted to support the treaty!
But we’re going to need your help to get the four more Republican votes that we need. It costs us about $1 for every call we get into a Republican Senator’s office. Will you sponsor 25, 40, or 100 calls into the Senate? We’ll make every dollar you give count!
Here’s why we’re giving this treaty everything we’ve got. We aim to eliminate every last nuclear weapon on earth, and this treaty lays the groundwork for taking much larger steps. Russia and the US have 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons, and it’s crucial we lead by example by making reductions. On the other hand, allowing this treaty to fall victim to the Senate’s partisan games will suck the oxygen out of efforts for bigger steps, like a comprehensive test ban.
We already know that together we can make a difference. Please lend us your support today, because we’re working every day, and every moment counts.