NEW YORK PEACE NETWORK Alert #160

Dear Peace Networker,

There were three critical votes in Congress last week that we want you to know about - on funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead, Iraq war funding and closing the School of the Americas.

Reliable Replacement Warhead

Good news! Last Thursday the House of Representatives voted down the Pearce amendment to restore funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead, 145 to 271.

In New York, only 5 Representatives voted to support funding for new nuclear weapons – Vito Fossella, Peter King, Randy Kuhl, John McHugh and Tom Reynolds. Kristen Gillibrand, Jerrold Nadler and Jim Walsh did not vote. The other 21 representatives from New York State voted against new funding for nuclear weapons.

School of the Americas

More good news! The House approved the McGovern-Sestak-Bishop amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2009. The amendment forces the release to the public of names, rank, country of origin, courses and dates of attendance of WHINSEC's graduates and instructors. (WHINSEC, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is the new name for the School of the Americas.) The amendment was approved with a 220 to 189 vote!

The access to information regarding students and instructors attending WHINSEC will allow human rights organizations to continue to monitor the school and identify those graduates and instructors who have violated human rights or taken part in criminal activities in their home countries.

In New York State, Vito Fossella, Peter King, Randy Kuhl and John McHugh voted against the amendment. Kristen Gillibrand, Gregory Meeks, Jerrold Nadler, Tom Reynolds and Jim Walsh didn’t vote. The other 20 representatives voted in support of the amendment.

Iraq War Funding

Now for the bad news. Or at least the less good news. Last week the Senate voted to give the President the $165 Billion in Iraq war funding that the House denied him the week before.

Last December, Senator Schumer voted against the funding, but Senator Clinton missed the vote. This time, both of them voted against the funding!

At this point it is unclear what the next steps will be. Either the funding will go to a conference committee of leaders from both the House and the Senate, or it may go back to the full House floor for another vote.

Next steps

In your five minutes for peace this week, please thank your Congress Member for their votes against nuclear weapons and the School of the Americas, and ask them to stay strong in their opposition to Iraq. Please also thank Senators Clinton and Schumer for listening to us and voting against the funding...

As always, thanks for all you do.

Cheryl Wertz
Executive Director, Peace Action of New York State
info@panys.org