Important House letter supporting diplomacy with Iran
Peace Action Hails 150 Reps Letter to Obama Supporting Iran Diplomacy
Washington, DC — May 7, 2015 — In reaction to the letter organized by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and David Price (D-NC) praising the Obama administration’s diplomacy work with Iran on its nuclear program, Peace Action, the largest peace group in the U.S. released the following statement by its political and policy director, Paul Kawika Martin who has worked on the Iran issue for over eight years and had the rare opportunity to spend time in the country:
This House letter to the President shows the overwhelming support in Congress for diplomacy with Iran and to finalize an agreement that verifiably thwarts Iran from building a crude nuclear weapon. Most in Congress realize there are no better options than reaching a strong accord with Iran on its nuclear program.
Clearly Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and David Price (D-NC) and the other 147 signers of the letter understand that successful diplomacy with Iran on its nuclear program will make Americans safer.
Now the Senate should take some advice from the House and ditch the unhelpful Corker bill and wait until a final agreement is reached before taking legislative action.
Though 150 signatures are significant by representing over a third in the House, many in Congress want to see a final agreement before making their views known. Once a strong final accord is reached with Iran, support in Congress will grow. A vote to approve or disapprove the agreement will likely be close but nowhere near enough to override an Obama veto. There are likely a handful of Republicans that would join those on this letter by Democrats.
Even in this more conservative House, this is the largest public support of diplomacy with Iran to date. It shows the importance of supporting the administration’s efforts to reach a final deal with Iran on its nuclear program.
Peace Action affiliates across the nation generated calls, letters and emails to Representatives urging them to sign on to the letter and will continue to pressure Congress until a final agreement is reached and implemented.
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Founded in 1957, Peace Action (formerly SANE/Freeze), the United States’ largest peace and disarmament organization, with over 100,000 paid members and nearly 100 chapters in 36 states, works to abolish nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights and support nonmilitary solutions to the conflicts with Afghanistan and Iran. The public may learn more and take action at http://www.Peace- Action.org. For more up-to-date peace insider information, follow Peace Action’s political director on Twitter. http://twitter.com/PaulKawika
Notes to Editors:
The text and signers of the letter here:
May 7, 2015
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program continue, we urge you to stay on course, building on the recently announced political framework and continuing to work toward a strong and verifiable agreement between the P5+1 countries and Iran that will prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. We commend you and your negotiating team, as well as our coalition partners, for the significant progress made thus far.
This issue is above politics. The stakes are too great, and the alternatives are too dire. We must exhaust every avenue toward a verifiable, enforceable, diplomatic solution in order to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. If the United States were to abandon negotiations or cause their collapse, not only would we fail to peacefully prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, we would make that outcome more likely. The multilateral sanctions regime that brought Iran to the table would likely collapse, and the Iranian regime would likely decide to accelerate its nuclear program, unrestricted and unmonitored. Such developments could lead us to war.
War itself will not make us safe. A U.S. or Israeli military strike may set back Iranian nuclear development by two or three years at best – a significantly shorter timespan than that covered by a P5+1 negotiated agreement. We must pursue diplomatic means to their fullest and allow the negotiations to run their course – especially now that the parties have announced a strong framework – and continue working to craft a robust and verifiable Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by June 30.
We must allow our negotiating team the space and time necessary to build on the progress made in the political framework and turn it into a long-term, verifiable agreement. If we do not succeed, Congress will remain at-the-ready to act and present you with additional options to ensure that Iran is prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapon
Thank you for your resolve in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran. We look forward to continuing our shared work on this important matter.
Sincerely,
Jan Schakowsky Lloyd Doggett David E. Price
Member of Congress Member of Congress Member of Congress
Member of Congress Member of Congress Member of Congress
###
1) List of signers in alpha order
|
1
|
Adams, Alma
|
|
2
|
Aguilar
|
|
3
|
Ashford
|
|
4
|
Bass
|
|
5
|
Beatty
|
|
6
|
Becerra
|
|
7
|
Bera
|
|
8
|
Beyer
|
|
9
|
Bishop, S.
|
|
10
|
Blumenauer
|
|
11
|
Bonamici
|
|
12
|
Bordallo
|
|
13
|
Brady
|
|
14
|
Brown, Corrine
|
|
15
|
Brownley
|
|
16
|
Bustos
|
|
17
|
Butterfield
|
|
18
|
Capps
|
|
19
|
Capuano
|
|
20
|
Cardenas
|
|
21
|
Carney
|
|
22
|
Carson
|
|
23
|
Cartwright
|
|
24
|
Castor
|
|
25
|
Castro
|
|
26
|
Chu
|
|
27
|
Cicilline
|
|
28
|
Clark, Katherine
|
|
29
|
Clarke, Yvette
|
|
30
|
Clay
|
|
31
|
Cleaver
|
|
32
|
Clyburn
|
|
33
|
Cohen
|
|
34
|
Connolly
|
|
35
|
Conyers
|
|
36
|
Courtney
|
|
37
|
Cummings
|
|
38
|
Davis, D.
|
|
39
|
Davis, S.
|
|
40
|
DeFazio
|
|
41
|
DeGette
|
|
42
|
DeLauro
|
|
43
|
DelBene
|
|
44
|
DeSaulnier
|
|
45
|
Dingell
|
|
46
|
Doggett
|
|
47
|
Doyle
|
|
48
|
Duckworth
|
|
49
|
Edwards
|
|
50
|
Ellison
|
|
51
|
Eshoo
|
|
52
|
Esty
|
|
53
|
Farr
|
|
54
|
Fattah
|
|
55
|
Foster
|
|
56
|
Fudge
|
|
57
|
Gallego
|
|
58
|
Garamendi
|
|
59
|
Green, Al
|
|
60
|
Grijalva
|
|
61
|
Gutierrez
|
|
62
|
Hahn
|
|
63
|
Heck
|
|
64
|
Higgins
|
|
65
|
Hinojosa
|
|
66
|
Honda
|
|
67
|
Huffman
|
|
68
|
Jackson Lee
|
|
69
|
Jeffries
|
|
70
|
Johnson, E.B.
|
|
71
|
Johnson, H.
|
|
72
|
Kaptur
|
|
73
|
Keating
|
|
74
|
Kelly
|
|
75
|
Kennedy
|
|
76
|
Kildee
|
|
77
|
Kind, Ron
|
|
78
|
Kuster
|
|
79
|
Langevin
|
|
80
|
Larsen
|
|
81
|
Larson
|
|
82
|
Lawrence
|
|
83
|
Lee
|
|
84
|
Lewis
|
|
85
|
Lieu
|
|
86
|
Loebsack
|
|
87
|
Lofgren
|
|
88
|
Lowenthal
|
|
89
|
Lujan
|
|
90
|
Lujan Grisham
|
|
91
|
Lynch
|
|
92
|
Maloney, S
|
|
93
|
Matsui
|
|
94
|
McCollum
|
|
95
|
McDermott
|
|
96
|
McGovern
|
|
97
|
McNerney
|
|
98
|
Meeks
|
|
99
|
Moore
|
|
100
|
Moulton
|
|
101
|
Napolitano
|
|
102
|
Neal
|
|
103
|
Nolan
|
|
104
|
Norton
|
|
105
|
O’Rourke
|
|
106
|
Payne
|
|
107
|
Pelosi
|
|
108
|
Perlmutter
|
|
109
|
Pierluisi
|
|
110
|
Pingree
|
|
111
|
Plaskett
|
|
112
|
Pocan
|
|
113
|
Polis
|
|
114
|
Price
|
|
115
|
Rangel
|
|
116
|
Richmond
|
|
117
|
Roybal-Allard
|
|
118
|
Ruiz
|
|
119
|
Ruppersberger
|
|
120
|
Rush
|
|
121
|
Ryan, Tim
|
|
122
|
Sablan
|
|
123
|
Sanchez, Linda
|
|
124
|
Sanchez, Loretta
|
|
125
|
Schakowsky
|
|
126
|
Scott, Bobby
|
|
127
|
Scott, David
|
|
128
|
Serrano
|
|
129
|
Sewell
|
|
130
|
Slaughter
|
|
131
|
Smith, Adam
|
|
132
|
Speier
|
|
133
|
Swalwell
|
|
134
|
Takai
|
|
135
|
Takano
|
|
136
|
Thompson, B.
|
|
137
|
Thompson, M.
|
|
138
|
Tonko
|
|
139
|
Torres
|
|
140
|
Tsongas
|
|
141
|
Van Hollen
|
|
142
|
Veasey
|
|
143
|
Velazquez
|
|
144
|
Visclosky
|
|
145
|
Walz
|
|
146
|
Waters
|
|
147
|
Watson Coleman
|
|
148
|
Welch
|
|
149
|
Wilson
|
|
150
|
Yarmuth
|
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