Thanks to the 14 undersigned advocacy groups including the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Indivisible, Open Society Policy Center, VoteVets, Common Defense, Win Without War, Foreign Policy for America, Demand Progress, Just Foreign Policy, and more who urge Chairman Engel and House Foreign Affairs Committee members to support a clean mark up of Rep Cicilline’s bill HR1004 – the Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act. It was sent to every Democratic member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee April 8th at 5pm. See the text and full signer list below.
With the appointment of Eliot Abrams as Special Envoy to Venezuela and the provocative rhetoric coming from the White House, we feel support for this legislation to preemptively assert Congress’s constitutional war authority is essential.
Please help us spread the this message by doing the following:
- Send the letter to your Representative and two Senators
- Urge your members to sign on to HR1004 and SJRes11 to prohibit unauthorized use of military force in Venezuela
- Share the letter with your local paper and any media contacts that you know
Thank you for helping us create a more just foreign policy.
Hassan El-Tayyab, Co-Director at Just Foreign Policy
April 8, 2019
Dear Chairman Engel:
We write to thank you for your support of the bipartisan bill H.R.1004 — Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act, introduced by Rep. Cicilline and co-sponsored by more than 60 Members of Congress. We ask you to ensure in the upcoming markup process that all Democrats serving on your committee vote in support of the measure’s discharge and against any amendments to the bill.
A favorable committee report and House adoption of H.R. 1004 could not come at a more urgent time. U.S. officials in charge of policy toward Venezuela, such as Elliott Abrams, have pursued a strategy of provocation and confrontation. In violation of the Charter of the Organization of the American States, and the Charter of the United Nations, and therefore treaty obligations of the United States, President Trump has publicly declared that all options, including U.S. military force, are on the table. Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe recounted that in 2017, President Trump argued that Venezuela is the “country we should be going to war with. They have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”
National Security Advisor John Bolton has publicly stated that “in this administration, we’re not afraid to use the word Monroe Doctrine,” has clutched documents alluding to a proposal to deploy “5,000 troops to Colombia,” and has argued that “it will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies really invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela.” Secretary Pompeo explicitly endorsed regime change in a recent statement: “No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro.”
Like the diverse members of your committee, our organizations may differ on the appropriate policy prescriptions for addressing the crisis in Venezuela. However, H.R.1004 reflects a clear consensus among all who seek a peaceful resolution to the escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela. The bill’s strength rests in its simple reiteration of the Constitution and the War Powers Act’s requirements that the president obtain specific statutory authorization prior to the use of offensive force against Venezuela, and its clear prohibition of Defense Department funds allocated for any military action not approved by Congress.
We are concerned that efforts to amend the bill could undermine its intent or result in poison-pill riders. We appreciate your recent leadership in assuring the clean passage and House adoption of S.J.Res. 7 to terminate unauthorized hostilities in Yemen, despite the Republicans’ procedural attempt to topple the privileged measure. We ask for your support as committee chair in ensuring Democratic unity with respect to Congressional assertion of constitutional war authorities in the case of threatened hostilities toward Venezuela. We respectfully request that you ensure that all Democrats serving on the committee reject any amendments during markup, thus affording H.R. 1004 the same consideration as a previous suite of Venezuela-related measures introduced by Reps. Shalala, Mucarsel-Powell, and Wasserman Schultz, which were cleanly reported out of committee without amendments offered or adopted during the March 14th markup process.
Sincerely,
Action Corps
Common Defense
Concerned Citizens for Change
CODEPINK for Peace
Demand Progress
Foreign Policy for America
Indivisible
Just Foreign Policy
Latin America Working Group
Open Society Policy Center
Peace Action New York State
VoteVets
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Win Without War
CC:
Rep Brad Sherman
Rep Ted Lieu
Rep Karen Bass
Rep Andy Levin
Rep Ilhan Omar
Rep Adriano Espaillat
Rep David Cicilline
Rep Ami Bera
Rep Jim Costa
Rep Juan Vargas
Rep Stephanie Murphy
Rep Ted Deutch
Rep William Keating
Rep David Trone
Rep Dean Phillips
Rep Dina Titus
Rep Tom Malinowski
Rep Gregory Meeks
Rep Chrissy Houlahan
Rep Susan Wild
Rep Vicente Gonzalez
Rep Joaquin Castro
Rep Colin Allred
Rep Abigail Spanberger