Take Action: Outrageous! $170 Million More in Military Aid to Israel
July 2nd, 2008It’s bad
enough that Congress passed the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 two
weeks ago, spending $165 billion more on our country’s illegal war on and
occupation of
To add insult to injury, after closely reading the bill, we discovered that
Congress snuck in a last-minute earmark for $170 million in Foreign Military
Financing (FMF) for
The
culprit: Representative David Obey (WI-7),
Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who has received nearly $225,000
from “pro-Israel” PAC’s and more than $200,000 from the military-industrial
complex since 1989, according to the Center
for Responsive Politics. Yes, the
same David Obey who can be seen in this video berating peace
activists for wanting to cut off funding for the war in
Yesterday, the US Campaign sent Rep. Obey a sharply-worded letter protesting
his decision to slip this earmark for
So why
was this appropriation for military aid for
How does
this relate to military aid to
The
additional $170 million was tacked on at the last moment by Rep. Obey so that,
in his words, “
Short-changed? Hardly.
That is
why the US Campaign has taken the lead in organizing a campaign to get the
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We need
you to take action to hold Rep. Obey accountable for his irresponsible action
and join with us to continue our campaign to challenge military aid to Take Action 1. Call Rep.
David Obey at 202-225-3365 to protest his earmark of $170 million in
military aid for 2. Send
a personal letter to each Member of Congress on the subcommittees that deal
with military aid. The House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees
that deal with military aid are scheduled to “mark-up” the president’s budget
request later this month. Send your letter to them opposing the President’s
request for military aid to 3. Have your
organization endorse our sign-on letter to these subcommittees. To
date, more than 350 organizations from 40 states plus 4. Sign up for an
organizing packet to challenge military aid to Israel in your community. So far, we’ve sent nearly 300 packets to
volunteer organizers in 40 states. The
organizing packets include postcards, petitions, and fact sheets—everything you
need to educate and organize people in your community to challenge military aid
to 5. Schedule a meeting
with your Members of Congress for the August recess. Representatives and Senators will be in their
home districts and states during August to meet with constituents. This is a perfect opportunity for you and/or
your organization to form a delegation and talk to your Members of Congress
about your opposition to military aid to 6. Save the
date—July 14—as a national call-in day. We’ve tentatively marked down July 14 as the date for a national call-in
day to Congress to oppose military aid to
For those of you who haven’t requested a meeting with your Members of Congress
before, we’ve got instructions on how to do it posted here along
with some tips on how to conduct the meeting posted here. We’ll have additional materials ready for
your August recess meetings soon, but in the meantime sign up to coordinate a
meeting and start working on getting it scheduled by clicking here.