PEACE:  Congress is back from its long summer recess and jumping right into the government budget debate. Over these coming weeks, the House and Senate will be voting on multiple spending bills, including one for the Defense Department. This bill will be allocating a whopping $886 billion for military spending. Given its failure of every audit it has undergone, the Pentagon is likely to lose track of what happens to those taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, other short-changed agencies will continue to struggle to stretch their budgets.

House debate on the bill could begin as soon as tomorrow! Thankfully, our pro-peace allies have presented amendments that would set us on a more just and peaceful path. Today I need you to make a quick call to your representative and demand they support these practical, pro-peace amendments.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is looking to ensure a diplomatic end to the war in Yemen. After eight and a half long years, we are on the verge of a diplomatic breakthrough. However, we must ensure that Saudi Arabia knows it will not receive U.S. military support if it walks away from negotiations and resumes its violent attacks. Accordingly, Rep. Tlaib is looking to prevent U.S. funding from supporting or facilitating offensive military operations by the Saudi-led coalition.

You may remember we wrote to you this summer about an NDAA push to block cluster bomb sales. While that push failed, Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Dina Titus (D-NV) are looking to prevent further sales of these horrific weapons. Cluster munitions indiscriminately kill innocent civilians, including children, and are rightly banned by more than 120 countries under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Let’s help prevent further transfers of these awful bombs.

Please contact your representative today and urge them to support these two critical amendments!

Here’s all I need you to do today:

1. Call the Congressional switchboard at 1-202-224-3121
2. Ask to be connected to your House representative
3. Once connected, say (In your words as much as possible):

“I am calling in regard to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act which will be debated soon. There are two crucial amendments offered to this bill that I urge the representative to support.

“First, Rep. Tlaib’s amendment to stop U.S. funding from going to support or facilitate offensive military operations by the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen.

“Second, Reps. Titus and Jacobs’s amendment to prohibit the acquisition, use, sale, or transfer of deadly cluster munitions, which are already banned by 120 nations and 23 members of NATO. I look forward to hearing about my Representative’s position on these critical issues.”

These budget bills don’t just set policies; they are moral documents. They reflect the priorities of our government. Once again, the Pentagon is set to get far more than we spend on housing, transportation, education, health and human services, the State and Justice Departments, and combatting catastrophic climate change combined. It’s time that we speak up and say “We need to reset our priorities for peace.”

Thank you for your activism on this crucial issue.

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