By David Swanson
At http://defundwar.org citizen activists are constantly updating a spreadsheet tracking the positions of their congress members on voting to fund more war.
Vernon Huffman recently posted this report:
“In his recent town hall, Rep. Schrader (D-OR) said he would vote against funding the war in Afghanistan.”
Leah Bolger posted this one:
“I have spoken with Congressman Schrader several times about pledging to defund the wars, HR 3699, etc. He has said repeatedly (most recently during a town hall meeting in Corvallis Oregon on Jan 30th, 2010) that he will not vote for funding to escalate troops in Afghanistan. He has also repeatedly declined to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 3699, but I think he could still be persuaded. He is on the House Budget Committee.”
This makes Schrader the 14th member of the U.S. House of Representatives listed at http://defundwar.org who has publicly committed to voting No on the next $33 billion for wars.
In normal circumstances, we would need to raise that number to 218 for Congress to reflect the will of the public and the expressed “opposition” to the wars by over 100 congress members. If, as reported, the congressional leadership includes the moving of Guantanamo’s death camp to Illinois in the same bill, then we will only need 40 Democrats to vote against the war funding, because all of the Republicans will almost certainly vote No.
A group of 14 members could move this forward if any of them would take the additional step of publicly urging their colleagues to join them. We’re still waiting for and asking for that leadership.
Find links to join in brownbag vigils and other actions to persuade your representative to join the list of war defunders at http://defundwar.org