Neighbors Times: April-May 2006 #5

Local Activists condemn Schakowsky’s support of House Supplemental Spending Bill

On March 17 Jan Schakowsky (D- 9th District) revealed her plans to support the Supplemental Spending bill for $142 Billion dollars, despite her previous public statements that she would not support the bill.

Voices for Creative Nonviolence posted this opinion on their website (vcnv.org) on March 19 based on a meeting local activists and supporters held with Schakowsky the previous week.

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At a meeting on March 17 with local social justice advocates, [Congresswoman Jan] Schakowsky announced that she will in fact vote in favor of the supplemental spending bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee. This comes despite representations from her office on January 29, during a lobbying visit, that Schakowsky would "absolutely not" vote for a supplemental spending bill.

Schakowsky's support for the Iraq war funding bill also comes despite her protestations at a March 8 press conference of the Progressive Caucus that:

“Four and a half years ago, the president asked Congress to give war a chance. And despite our objections, he got that chance and he blew it. No more chances, no more waivers, no phony certifications, no more spending billions of dollars to send our children into the meat grinder that is Iraq. It is time to spend the money to keep them safe and bring them home.”

... the above statement came on the same day that the House Leadership team of Pelosi, Obey, Murtha and Hoyer were publicly rolling out the outline of the Democrats' war funding bill.

Nine days later, Schakowsky is on board with continuing to fund the war for at least another 18 months, until September 2008.

...It is highly improbable that the terms and conditions for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq which are contained in the House version of the bill will ever become law. Two significant obstacles exist—the Senate and the President.

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Jeff Leys, the article’s author, concludes, “What this maneuvering by Pelosi, Obey and their minions really comes down to is crass political calculations. Conveniently, September 8, 2008—the date set for the withdrawal from Iraq to be completed—is the first Saturday following Labor Day. Labor Day traditionally marks the start of the fall election season.”

Other Peace activists voiced their disillusionment with Schakowsky after their Saturday meeting:

Laurie Hasbrook, a peace activist with Voices in the Wilderness, encourages the community to take more action to protest Schakowsky’s position. She also comments,

As heartsick, and, frankly disgusted by Jan's decision to vote yes on this appalling version of the supplemental as I am, I was even more disgusted by the "pass" that several of the Democratic party faithful at the meeting gave Jan. ...One person pointedly encouraged us to see this Democratic version of the supplemental "as a victory" because it includes a timetable. The fact that the supplemental includes so many waivers, exemptions, etc... so as to make the supposed "timetable" meaningless seemed not to bother them.

The level of political calculation going into the formulation of Jan's vote is chilling. She repeatedly mentioned bad headlines she wanted to avoid, opening the meeting by sharing about 10 of them from various national newspapers, and held up page 14 of Friday's Chicago Tribune "Senate Rejects Iraq pullout plan" as evidence of HOW BAD IT WOULD LOOK --emphasis on LOOK -- if she were to vote NO ...”
Hasbrook echoed Leys’ skepticism about the decision to let the war continue until September 2008, and its timing at the beginning of election season. She called it, “playing politics with peoples lives.”

Another meeting attendee stated, “Many of us pointed out that as you look at this bill with all the opportunities written into it for the "president" to "waive this" and "certify that"... that there will never be a time table... once this bill is hacked up- and all that will be left, if anything, are some of the "porkbarrel additions" and the now $124 Billion for this administration to continue this war....someone suggested that Jan withhold her vote rather than vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ - so she could stand on principal..... Many of us came away with a headache - and lots of frustration... but the resolve to continue our message of end the funding remains strong.”

Background and commentary on the bill ranges from the official Congressional summary (appropriations.house.gov) to an analysis by Military Families Speak Out (mfso.org) as well as the aforementioned discussion at vcnv.org.

Jan Schakowsky contact info: 1-866-340-9281, direct line 202-225-2111 Ask for Robert Marcus. Dave Davis can also take your calls at 847-328-3409
Fax: Washington DC - (202) 226-6890
Email: go to http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/contact.html.

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