Peace Action

Save New Orleans and Stop The War

In the same week President Bush unloaded his pork-pie budget on Congress, Reuters has reported that cash-strapped New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was forced to take meetings with representatives from France and Jordan in a desperate attempt to secure funding for the rebuilding of New Orleans . The 7% defense department budget increase this year, while monumental on its own, becomes a drop in the bucket given the 45% overall increase in Pentagon spending sustained over the five years of this administration. This year's record budget does not include the estimated $120 billion that Bush will request under an "emergency supplemental" to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq this year.

While we know advance planning is not the Bush administration’s forte, classifying these wars as ‘emergencies’ is still misleading, especially when this emergency funding should be going towards real emergencies-like rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Put simply, the more money Mr. Bush spends on overseas war mongering, the less there is for the home front.

Please take the time to write your congressperson now!

Remember to personalize your letter. Personalized letters are significantly more effective in getting your Congressperson to listen to what you have to say!

February 09, 2010

Subject:

Dear Representative, I was shocked to learn in the paper that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has had to go to foreign donors, including France and Jordan, because insufficient amounts of money for reconstruction of the Gulf Coast are forthcoming in President Bush’s budget. I’ve also learned that the President had asked for a seven percent increase for Pentagon spending. Understanding that the war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are paid through, so-called, “emergency supplemental” appropriations and that non-security domestic discretionary spending is being cut $15 billion, I find this increase in Pentagon spending and the continued use of emergency supplementals to fund Bush’s wars inexcusable and dishonest. The costs of these wars are not unpredictable emergencies at this point. We do have ongoing emergencies on the Gulf Coast and with health care in this country and yet Congress continues to be an accomplice as Bush pillages the treasury for his unending wars and Pentagon pork. It is time for you to begin to address this gross fiscal malfeasance. As a member of Peace Action, I would ask that you do three things: 1. Co-sponsor “Hurricane Katrina Recovery, Reclamation, Restoration, Reconstruction and Reunion Act” (HR4197), that would prioritize spending on restoration of the Gulf Coast and on reuniting families scattered by Hurricane Katrina. 2. Co-sponsor the “End the War in Iraq Act" (HR4232) sponsored by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA). This important legislation would cancel all funding of war efforts in Iraq while supporting troop withdrawal and placing no restrictions on non-defense spending on Iraqi reconstruction. 3. Show your support for honesty in government and an end to shipping our tax dollars overseas for a wasteful war by voting against the next so-called emergency supplemental for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Please write me and let me know that you supported these initiates and if not, why you did not. Thank you.
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