Rep Barbara Lee will be on too. Here’s her bill (22 cosponsors) to block funding for an escalation in Afghanistan: HR 3699. Why hasn’t your representative signed on? Of course we have to use this to build a list of House members committed to voting No on funding bills. The House alone can block funding by voting No. Passing a bill does no good without the Senate and the President on board. Still, there are two other bills we can use to move representatives in the right direction: HR 2404 from Jim McGovern (100 cosponsors) to require the Secretary of “Defense” to produce an exit plan for Afghanistan, and HR 3679 from Betty McCollum (7 cosponsors) to defund government contractors convicted of certain felonies. Remember: the hardest part about sitting-in at a congress member’s local office is bending your knees.
Here’s what we’re up against: According to the Associated Press the “leadership” of the two parties in Congress have unconstitutionally told the president war continuation or escalation is up to him, and the president has unconstitutionally and anti-democratically announced that he will ignore the Congress regardless and ignore the people too.
Are you fired up? Ready to go?
Dennis Kucinich gets it right:
Washington D.C. (October 6, 2009) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has been a leading advocate against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, today made the following statement after the Obama Administration invited Members of Congress to the White House to discuss options for Afghanistan one day after Administration officials indicated that withdrawal is not an option:
“This week marks eight years of a war that continues to take the lives of innocent civilians. The region is plagued with rising violence and ongoing corruption. Meanwhile, Americans and Afghans continue to die; just days ago we saw the most deadly attack on American troops in more than a year. Instead of discussing all of our options for Afghanistan, including an immediate withdrawal, the Administration is initiating a charm offensive with high level meetings at the White House, with the intention of shoring up sinking support for continuing the war in Afghanistan.
“Sending additional American service members to Afghanistan does not increase security and it is not an act of diplomacy. Sending additional troops sends one message: The U.S. is ramping up combat operations. This message only encourages the Taliban and other insurgent groups to do likewise. Congress must take control of this war by eliminating its funding and bringing our troops home,” said Kucinich.