Entries Tagged 'D.C.' ↓

The House Democratic Leadership has announced they intend the House debate and vote upon Bush’s request for at least an additional $100 billion for Iraq military operations during the week of April 14th.  When the Leadership staff was asked if they would allow amendments, including one based on H.R. 5507 that would fence the $ so it could only be used to pay for fully-funded redeployment of all U.S. troops and military contractors within 1 year of enactment, they said the House Democratic Leadership “has no policy as of now.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says a swipe that Vice President Cheney took at Democratic House leaders is “beneath the dignity of his office.”

Capitol Hill was abuzz Thursday with discussion of the vice president’s assertion in an interview with Politico that House Democratic leaders had been surprisingly supine: “They are not carrying the big sticks I would have expected.”

Cheney added that when he served in the House, “We would not have had a Speaker who, from my perspective, is that far out of the sort of mainstream — she is a San Francisco Democrat, certainly entitled to her views, but able to dictate policy as effectively as she apparently does to the rest of the caucus.”

The speaker, a few hours after winning a long-sought victory on an energy bill that increases auto efficiency requirements, said in an interview with Politico that she had paid little attention to the hullabaloo.

“To tell you the truth, I’ve been really busy the last 24 hours,” Pelosi said. “How can I say this with the dignity of the office that I hold, and especially the dignity of the office that the vice president holds? It’s so beneath the dignity of his office — and mine — that I don’t even want to address it.”

Pelosi said her leadership style is to find consensus among leaders and committee chairs.

“Of course, I have the responsibility at the end of the day,” she said. “But I’m very respectful of their read on the situation,” she said. “Those people are … our distinguished chairmen. I have enormous respect for their knowledge of the subject.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not comment on the remark but said in a Politico interview that “someone I was with said that” the comment sounded sexist.

Habeas Funeral (White House),
originally uploaded by kspidel.

We did! Here are some photos from our White House action today. Find out more and take action http://86days.amnestyusa.org

Washington, D.C. – Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., president of the Hip Hop Caucus and peace activist, announced today that the D.C. Superior Court dismissed charges against him of assaulting a Capitol Police officer while in line to attend a hearing in the House of Representatives. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) represents Rev. Yearwood in his case.

On September 10th, Rev. Yearwood waited in the line for several hours in order to watch General David Petraeus testify before Congress. Minutes before the start of the hearing, Rev. Yearwood was told by Capitol Police that he would not be allowed to enter. When Rev. Yearwood questioned why he was being excluded from the open hearing, he was surrounded by officers and tackled to the ground.  He suffered torn ligaments and a sprained ankle.

Rev. Yearwood received letters of support from organizations including Amnesty International and the Black Leadership Forum. Americans across the country contacted the Capitol Police Department and members of Congress about the extreme and unjust charges.

The entire incident was caught on film and is available here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qiradcejA6o

Rev. Yearwood said leaving the courtroom Friday, “I am relieved the charges were dropped, but they never should have been brought against me.  This one incident in 2007 has moved us back to 1957, where people of color are once again afraid to walk the halls of Congress. I am more heartbroken for the young people for whom I work to make government more accessible and transparent, who are now fearful of coming to the Capitol. We have an apartheid political system, where democracy while Black isn’t the same as democracy while White. These officers and the U.S. Capitol Police must be held accountable by our members of Congress for their horrendous actions.”

Anne Weismann, CREW’s chief counsel said today, “While we are gratified that these charges against Reverend Yearwood have been dismissed, we remain outraged that he was arrested in first place. We hope that the House Leadership will review this incident and take steps to ensure that it never happens again.”

Rev. Yearwood still faces charges of disorderly conduct stemming from this incident.

Join us at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 24th at AFSCME, 1625 L Street, NW for the continuing Talk Tuesday series!

In January 2005, nearly 300 young activists came together at the Emerging Progressive Forum to share their common experiences from the 2004 election cycle and discuss what it means to be a young progressive. Building from the groundwork laid at the forum, a discussion group called Talk Tuesdays was formed in DC to engage young progressives in a dialogue about the issues and strategies that are building a progressive majority.

Over the next 2 years, the group met regularly on the first Tuesday of the month and included discussion and action items to keep young progressives fighting the battles that matter. But, due to scheduling challenges, the Talk Tuesday group had to stop meeting during 2006. Continue reading →

Members pledge to use appropriations process to fully fund redeployment from Iraq

As public frustration with President Bush’s failed Iraq policy continues to mount, a bi-partisan group of 70 members of Congress asserted their power to use the appropriations process to change the policy in Iraq, directly challenging the President’s claim that Congress’ only power with regard to the conflict is to fund the policy he has set.

Led by Progressive, and Out of Iraq Caucus Chairs Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Maxine Waters (D-CA), 70 House Members today delivered a letter to President Bush putting him on notice that when the Congress takes up the FY ’08 funding for military operations in Iraq in September they will only support appropriating funding for military operations in Iraq that are used to fully fund the safe and orderly redeployment of US troops from Iraq. In their letter, the broad collection of members cited the skyrocketing human and financial costs of the President’s failed Iraq policy and warned that the occupation’s costs will be felt for generations to come:

“We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office […]

“We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on Americans currently and for generations to come,” they wrote.

The full text of the letter is below (link to actual document here): Continue reading →

Photos of the Day of Action:

Video of speeches available on my work blog: here.

For those folks unable to be in DC with us this morning for the “Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice” go to http://www.juneaction.org at 10am EST for a live webcast!

We just launched our new microsite. It is now just a flier for the Juneteenth concert. But stay tuned!

http://www.hiphopforhabeas.com