Email from Sen Feingold -- Help him! Sign power of purse resolution

[FourScore]

Dear ******,

Today I am chairing a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Congress's constitutional power to end a war. It's far past time for the war in Iraq - one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes in our nation's history - to end and for our troops to be safely redeployed. Because the President has abdicated his responsibility for far too long, it is now up to Congress to get our country back on track.

But I can't do it alone. I need your help to demonstrate the public support for using the "power of the purse" to force this administration to begin to redeploy our troops from Iraq. I hope you'll join me by co-sponsoring my resolution to redeploy our troops.

http://ga1.org/campaign/iraq0107?source=web_sotu

While I will vote for the non binding resolution being offered against the so-called "troop surge" - as I already did in Committee - we all know that much more needs to be done. Congress holds the purse strings and if the President continues to move forward with his failed Iraq policy, we have the responsibility to use that power to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq.

Today's hearing will help inform my colleagues, and the public about Congress's power to end a war and how that power has been used in the past. I will soon be introducing legislation to use the "power of the purse" to end what is clearly one of the greatest mistakes in the history of our nation's foreign policy.

http://ga1.org/campaign/iraq0107?source=web_sotu

Our open-ended presence in Iraq encourages the insurgency, and adding more troops with no end date in sight only adds more fuel to the fire. There is no higher foreign policy priority than making America safer and getting our nation back on track by redeploying our troops out of Iraq. Once again, I hope you'll consider co-sponsoring my resolution. As always, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Russ

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund


P.S. I've recorded a new video podcast on Congress's power to end the war using the "power of the purse" – be sure to visit our website

http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/podcasts/012907.html

to check it out!

[Sydnie]

1. done

Thanks for posting this.

[fooj]

2. done

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Done with pleasure. K&R

[Old and In the Way]

4. Thanks for posting...done and K/R

[porphyrian]

5. I'll kick that. - n/t

[itsmesgd]

6. Isn't that kinda backwards, We elect Them to Go and Act for Us

Instead of Them asking Us for help. Shouldn't they be able to do the job without running to us every time to see if there is popular support before they get off of their butts. We elected them to do a lot of things, ending the war was the main reason. I dont care how they do it. I dont care what they call it. We told them to do it and now they need to stop checking opinions and popularity polls and FUCKING DO IT ALREADY.

[FourScore]

8. Huh? Did you sign it? n/t

[Seabiscuit]

10. Feingold isn't running to us... to see if there is popular support -

He's using a petition to convince other Senators (mainly Republicans) to do their job and cut off the funding.

[itsmesgd]

12. Fine, sign the petition...

Is there anyone out there who is not aware that the majority of the US people 79% - 21% oppose the war and want Congress to do EVERYTHING in their power to stop the war and bring our troops home?

We'll sign it, we'll vote for supportes of ending the war, we'll march in thousands, we'll wear shirts, we'll carry signs, we will scream from the mountain tops, "STOP THE WAR NOW".
Will this be enough for them to DO anything about it?

[FourScore]

15. One thing is for certain,

without all of our efforts this administration and this war will continue completely unchecked. It does seem futile at times though, doesn't it?

[Seabiscuit]

16. I DID sign the petition.

The problem isn't that no one "gets" it - the problem is the Republicans don't want to cooperate, because they're caught between a rock and a hard place - they've been kissing Dubya's ass and marching in lockstep with him for 6 years in Congress, granting his every wish, and now he's dragging them down with him, yet they still hate us "libruls" and don't want to be on record with the RNC as having voted to cut off funding for Iraq, because they want to be re-elected by a constituency they imagine still thinks the way it did 4 years ago.

[FourScore]

13. Exactly.

Although it would be interesting to see how many democrats actually sign on. This is an incredibly bold move by Feingold!!!

[itsmesgd]

14. How is it bold to do what we elected him to do in the first place?

[Seabiscuit]

17. Only "bold" by comparison to so many other spineless Senators, true.

[FourScore]

20. Wouldn't it be nice to have Senators like Feingold! n/t

[FourScore]

18. The power of the purse could easily

be spun by the right and by the media as not "supporting the troops", "cutting the funding for the troops", that sort of thing. We need to sign on to this sort of resolution en masse so that we stand behind Senator Feingold in his efforts. I do think it is bold. And the right thing to do.

[bonito]

7. Done & recommended

[Seabiscuit]

9. Done. Kicked. Recommended.

[nam78_two]

11. K&R.nt

[Robbien]

19. done

:kick:

[FourScore]

21. Kick.

[Reterr]

22. k&r.eom

[FourScore]

23. Kick

[MagickMuffin]

24. I signed earlier today

thx for posting for others to see.