UPDATE ON 3 KEY VOTES WE HIGHLIGHTED IN DEFENSE APPROPS DEBATE:
Rep. Conyers’ amendment to prohibit funds for ground troops in Libya, “unless the purpose of such deployment is solely to rescue members of the United States Armed Forces”, was approved by voice vote!
Rep. Lee’s amendment to cut funds for the war in Afghanistan failed by 97-322. Find out how your member voted here.
Rep. Kucinich-Amash amendment to cut all funds for the war in Libya failed by 199-229. Find out how your member voted here.
The Defense Appropriations bill as a whole was passed 336-87.
Below is a list of votes on other amendments to the Defense Appropriations bill relevant to the wars and Pentagon spending, provided by Council for a Livable World.
LIBYA WAR VOTES:
Rep. Cole (R-OK) amdt: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the Department of Defense to furnish military equipment, military training or advice, or other support for military activities, to any group or individual, not part of a country’s armed forces, for the purpose of assisting that group or individual in carrying out military activities in or against Libya.”
Approved 225-201
Rep. Gohmert (R-TX) amdt: Limits spending on Libya operations. None of the funds made available by this Act may be obligated, expended, or used in any manner to support military operations, including NATO or United Nations operations in Libya or in Libya’s airspace.
Defeated 162-265
Libya and War Powers: Offered by Sherman (D-CA): bars spending that violates the War Powers Act, which, according to Sherman, would limit the Administration from spending on any military activities not currently underway. On June 13, the House voted 248-163 for a similar Sherman (D-CA) amendment to the Military Construction appropriations bill.
Approved 316-111
Rep. Rigell (R-VA): None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to support Operation Odyssey Dawn (former U.S. operations in Libya) or Operation unified Protector (NATO operations in Libya).
Defeated 176-249
AFGHANISTAN WAR VOTES:
Afghanistan funds: Offered by Welch (D-VT): Bars spending more than $200 million for the Commander’s Emergency response Program.
Defeated 169-257
Afghanistan war: Offered by Garamendi (D-CA): To cut $20.9 billion to wind down the war in a responsible way over the next 18 months so that at the end of the 18 months– December 31, 2012–that there’d be no more than 25,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Defeated 133-295
Afghanistan war: Offered by Lee (D-CA)-Jones (R-NC): To cut the $5 billion of the Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer Fund
Defeated 114-314
Afghanistan Security Forces Fund: Offered by Cohen (D-TN): To cut $200 million for Afghanistan security forces.
Defeated 210-217
Afghanistan Security Forces Fund: Offered by Cicilline: To cut $475 million from the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund.
Defeated 145-283 [vote not available]
Afghanistan Security Forces Fund: Offered by Cohen (D-TN): To cut $4 billion for Afghanistan security forces
Defeated 119-306
PAKISTAN WAR VOTES:
Pakistan reimbursement: Offered by Poe (R-TX): To cut $1 billion from the reimbursement account that the United States pays for the war on terror to reimburse Pakistan.
Defeated 131-297
Funds for Pakistan: Offered by Poe (R-TX): To cut $1 billion from the Pakistan counterinsurgency fund.
Defeated 140-285
Aid to Pakistan: Offered by Rohrabacher (R-CA): bars any assistance to Pakistan.
Defeated 89-338
PENTAGON SPENDING VOTES:
Military spending: Offered by Mulvaney (R-SC): cut the Pentagon budget by $17 billion, freezing the budget at the Fiscal Year 2011 level.
Defeated 135-290
Cutting increase in Department of Defense Budget: Offered by Frank (D-MA)-Campbell (R-CA)-Holt (D-NJ)-Jones (R-NC)-Moore (D-WI)-Paul (R-TX) amendment scaling back the planned FY 2012 increase in the Defense base budget from $$17.3 billion by $8.5 billion. The amendment stipulates that none of the reduction in expenditures will come from payroll for military personnel, Department of Defense health programs and emergency war spending. Given the scale of our nation’s fiscal problems, the proposed $17 billion increase in non-war spending in the reported bill shows an insufficient commitment to the necessity of cutting waste and unnecessary spending.
Defeated 181-244
Troops overseas: Offered by Polis (D-CO): None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to maintain an end strength level of members of the Armed Forces of the United States assigned to permanent duty in Europe in excess of 30,000 members and reduces funding for military personnel by $813 million.
Defeated 113-307
Reduce funding: Offered by Flake (R-AZ) to reduce the Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer Fund by $3.6 billion because there is virtually no guidance on how the money should be spent beyond requiring that any obligations be pursuant to the global war on terrorism.
Defeated 118-295
UPDATED Call Script
1. Call your Representative at 1-888-231-9276.
2. Ask for your Representative by name. If you don’t know who your Representative is, you can find out here.
2. When you reach your Representative’s office, ask to speak to the staff person who handles foreign policy, or ask for the foreign policy staff person by name, if you know it. If this person is not available, leave your message with the person who answered the phone.
3. Tell them: “I urge you to support the Conyers amendment to the Defense Appropriations amendment to ban ground troops in Libya.”
4. After you make your call, take a moment to tell us how your call went by leaving a comment on this blog post. You can also report back on Twitter by tweeting us @justfp.
We will be live tweeting during the House debate @justfp and posting updates here.