The tide is turning. This morning, 3 Republican Congressmen - Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, Ron Paul of Texas and Wayne Gilchrist of Maryland - joined Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie in a call to their House colleagues urging them to sign on to House Resolution 543. H.RES. 543 is a Discharge Petition that, once signed by 218 members, forces House Joint Resolution (H.J.RES.) 55 onto the House floor for up to 17 hours of public debate. (H.J.RES.55 is the June 2005 Homeward Bound resolution requiring the President to develop and implement a plan for withdrawal of US Armed Forces from Iraq.)
The measure is totally bipartisan. It is being advanced because Congress has a Constitutional responsibility to debate and vote on war. H. RES. 543 will meet that requirement. The debate time is split evenly between the parties.
Since the invasion, there has been 1 hour and 11 minutes of House debate on the Iraq war.
The goal of H. RES. 543 is not about bringing H.J.RES. 55 to the House floor. Rather, the Discharge Petition is a parliamentary device that uses H.J.RES 55 as a vehicle to bring debate to the floor of the people's house, from which we've heard only silence since the invasion of Iraq. All points of view are welcome.
At the press conference, both sides emphasized that Congress has the Constitutional responsibility to actively participate in decisions on war and peace policy. The troops offer their lives in service to the country; in return, they expect Congress to prove itself "competent, informed and active" in policy decisions.
Some points mentioned during the press conference:
* The House has the Constitutional responsibility to declare war and to fund war, and the House has a Constitutional imperative to debate these issues;
* Congress does not want to be irrelevant anymore;
* One Member is a former marine who knows what it's like "to smell death, to feel death on the battlefield...those experiences create a sense of urgency to do the right thing. I don't feel that sense of urgency among my colleagues in Congress."
* It's "libelous" to be told you are unpatriotic if you oppose the war;
* How can we preach the spread of democracy in Iraq and abroad if we can't practice it here in the House of Representatives?
* 54% of those polled in 5 Southern red states are now opposed to the war;
* With an upcoming supplemental appropriation, we will be spending $10 BILLION dollars a month on the Iraq war and related efforts - money not available for health care, education, etc. for those Americans in need.
The Congressmen urged individual citizens to call their Representatives and tell them to sign the petition. (For contact information, see www.house.gov.)
For more information on the status of the Discharge Petition signature effort and the grassroots work to bring the Iraq war into public Congressional Debate, see Change the Course at www.dcfordemocracy.org. This is a citizen driven effort and Americans all over the country can support the bipartisan lawmakers who have stepped forward on this issue that has such great impact on our country and its future.