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In the first six months of 2008, an increasingly partisan Congress voted to approve more war funding, gave immunity to telecommunications companies that conspire with the government to spy on individuals, and dropped significant climate change legislation. Yet even in this election year, we at FCNL can mark several significant successes since January 2008, including stopping funding for new nuclear weapons, building support for a cluster bomb ban, and growing our network by spreading the “War Is Not the Answer” message across the country.
Congress Says No to New Nuclear Weapons
In late May the House defeated an amendment to allocate $10 million to the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program in the military authorization bill. FCNL's Quaker Nuclear Disarmament Program helped lead the lobbying effort that resulted in the House denying all funding for RRW in the fiscal year 2009 military spending bill. On July 10 the Senate Appropriations Committee also stripped all funding for the new weapon out of an annual spending bill. This is the second year in a row that FCNL lobbying has helped block funding for new nuclear weapons. More information.
110 Countries Agree to Global Cluster Bomb Ban, Senate Support Grows
Meeting in May in Dublin, Ireland, representatives from more than half the world’s nations agreed to a new international treaty that commits their governments to ban the production, use, stockpiling, and export of all existing cluster munitions. Although the United States didn’t attend the negotiations, FCNL’s lobbying helped persuade 5 more senators to cosponsor legislation that would effectively ban U.S. cluster munitions. In addition, our lobbyist helped persuade a U.S. senator to attend the negotiations to demonstrate support within the United States for a cluster bomb ban. Learn more.
House Votes to Require Congressional Approval of U.S.-Iraq Agreement
The House passed an amendment to the military authorization bill requiring the president to seek congressional approval of any binding security arrangement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments regarding the U.S. military's role in Iraq. Having helped persuade Congress to ban the U.S. government from building permanent military bases in Iraq, FCNL lobbyists are urging Congress to pass legislation that would block the Bush administration from negotiating an agreement with the Iraqi government for a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq without congressional approval. Find out more.
Congress Approves Funding for Civilian Crisis Response Teams
In early March, the House passed by voice vote the Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act (H.R. 1084), which would authorize the creation of standby groups of civilian specialists with diverse skills and the capability to rapidly deploy in a crisis to prevent weak states from collapsing or to rebuild war-torn states. In addition, $55 million was approved to fund the civilian response corps in June, the one bright spot in the massive war spending bill signed by the president. FCNL has been one of the few groups in Washington lobbying for this legislation as part of our Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program. Find out more.
Victory for Native American Health Care in the Senate
In late February the Senate voted 83 to 10 to dramatically improve health care for nearly 2 million Native Americans by passing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (S. 1200). Congress has not reauthorized the act in 13 years, leaving healthcare services for Native Americans grossly outdated and inadequate. Shortly after the vote, the National Congress of American Indians recognized FCNL's contribution to lobbying on these issues in an award ceremony in Washington. Find out more about FCNL's Native American Advocacy program.
The "War Is Not the Answer" Movement Is Growing!
FCNL now has more than 350 "War Is Not the Answer" yard sign distributors and has sent out more than 400,000 "War Is Not the Answer" signs in the past 6 years. We distributed more than twice as many signs and bumper stickers in 2007 as we did in 2006. See where "War Is Not the Answer" is spreading across the country, order your own sign, and put yourself on the map!
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See successes from 2007.
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