Action Alert - May 7, 2002
Urge Your Representative to Vote Against Emergency Supplemental Bill
President Bush is currently requesting $27.1 billion for the "war on terrorism" through the FY 2002 Emergency Supplemental Budget Request. The Supplemental Bill is a three way policy disaster. The bill lifts restrictions on arms sales to human rights abusing governments and moves oversight of military training programs from the State Dept. to the Pentagon. If that weren't reason enough to vote against this bill, the supplemental also gives the Pentagon greater flexibility (and Congress less oversight) with regard to nuclear weapons projects.
IT IS PROJECTED THAT THIS BILL WILL BE VOTED ON BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 OR THURSDAY MAY 9.
The Supplemental Bill will create a new wave of military financing for 19 countries with blatantly poor human rights records. In total $375 million in military aid would be provided to countries like Colombia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Georgia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Kenya, and others. The Pentagon would also be able to provide another $420 million to other countries cooperating with the war on terrorism, a duty traditionally under the jurisdiction of the State Department and the appropriate Congressional committees.
In addition to arming human rights abusers, the Bush Administration is pushing Congress to accept and support a US nuclear policy that will include not only the development of earth-penetrating "mini" nuclear weapons, but would also consider the use of nuclear-tipped interceptors in a national missile defense system, reviving an idea that US authorities rejected nearly three decades ago as technically problematic and politically unacceptable. To push forward with these projects, the Emergency Supplemental Bill would allow the Secretary of Defense to override restrictions on military construction, taking money from other programs to fund controversial projects like the national missile defense testing site in Fort Greely, Alaska.
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TODAY AND URGE THEM TO VOTE AGAINST THE EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET REQUEST. Tell them that the bill undermines our foreign policy by increasing arms sales to human rights abusers and weakens traditional congressional oversight of the military budget.
To reach your Representative or Senators call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to their office.
Find out who your Representative is: http://www.house.gov/writerep/Please send this email to your friends!
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