Confront Congress members on their Memorial Day holiday

(10 am – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This from our friends at United for Peace and Justice.  It needs no further comment from me: 

Apparently the Senate doesn't think there are enough fallen soldiers to honor this Memorial Day, so they have passed a funding bill to extend the Iraq war and occupation past Memorial Day 2009. And were they even thinking of the potentially thousands of Iraqis who will die? To add to the moral repugnance of the Senate's actions, they have tied important programs including GI and unemployment benefits to the Iraq funding bill. Vets can get college tuition, but they'll need to spend another year in Iraq first. See below for details on the Senate bill and to find out how your senators voted.

Are you as outraged as we are?

But we can't give up the fight just yet. The Senate bill will go back to the House of Representatives for a vote in the beginning of June. Before they vote though, members of Congress will be coming home for their week-long Memorial Day recess. That means they will be at parades, picnics, campaign events and in their offices. They must hear from you — loud or silent, rude or polite, funny or solemn, in print, on the phone or in person. There are many ways to convey one message: Stop funding the war, bring all our troops home now! Use as many of them as you can!

Please check the UFPJ calendar to see if there are any Memorial Day Peace events near you (and make sure your event is listed if you are organizing one).

Click here to find out who your representative is and the locations and phone numbers of their local offices.

Let us know how you contacted your representative — phone, email, fax, in-person, etc. — who you reached, what you said, and what the response was.

Additional Resources from UFPJ and UFPJ member groups:

• CodePink Memorial Day Action Guide
• "Why We're Against the War," from Iraq Veterans Against the War
• Legislative information from UFPJ
• Local cost of war info from the National Priorities Project
• Talking points for grassroots lobbyists from Peace Action
• Open letter to Congress from Military Families Speak Out
• "Healing the Wounds of War" from AFSC

The final vote was on $165.4 billion to fund the wars/occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan through next summer. This amendment passed on a vote of 70-26.

The Senate version of the bill (including the war funding and the domestic funding) will go back to the House for a vote after the Memorial Day recess. Last week, the House voted on three amendments similar to the amendments in the Senate. It defeated the war funding amendment and passed only the war policies and domestic programs.

How did your representative vote?

• On the Iraq war policies amendment
• On the domestic programs amendment
• On the $166 billion Iraq war funding amendment

Yours, for peace and justice,

UFPJ Legislative Working Group