As many of you may know, just over six years ago I cast the lone vote against giving George Bush an unchecked authority to wage an undefined war against an undefined enemy for an unspecified period of time, an authority his administration has invoked in going into Iraq, in the establishment of military tribunals, even in conducting warrantless surveillance of Americans.
Thankfully, today I am no longer a lone voice, as evidenced in no small part by vibrant communities like this one. The majority of Americans want to end the occupation of Iraq and bring our troops home, but despite the fact that George Bush refuses to change course in Iraq, Congress has not taken the necessary steps to end his administration's failed policy.
So how do we change this?
With the emergency supplemental debate looming (the precise date is still unclear), it is critical that we lay the groundwork beforehand to ensure our momentum heading into the debate.
To that end, I have joined with my fellow co-chairs of the Out-of-Iraq caucus, Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Maxine Waters, in writing to President Bush to tell him that when Congress takes up the next emergency supplemental for Iraq, we will not provide another dime for his failed policy. Our letter makes it clear that the only funding that we would vote for is funding to protect our troops and contractors and bring them home, and 77 other Representatives have already joined us in signing this letter.
This is what we call "Fully Funding Redeployment," and while we're off to a strong start with 80 signers, we are trying to reach 100 by the end of the month to put us on strong footing for the coming debate.
But we'll need your help to get there. You can see a list of current signers here, and if your Representative is not on the list I hope that you'll click here to email your Representative and urge them to sign on to the Lee Letter. And if your Representative has already signed the letter, then you can still click here to invite friends and family that live in a different district to email their Congressman.
The coming debate on the emergency supplemental promises to be among the most important we've seen in Congress in decades, and I can't thank you enough for the amazing effort you are putting in towards ending President Bush's failed policy in Iraq -- both here, on your own blogs, and in your own communities.
I'll be answering questions in the comments section below for about the next 45 minutes, so I look forward to responding to your thoughts!