Barbara Lee Fights Against Blank Check for Endless War, Pushes for Swift Withdrawal from Afghanistan and Sensible Cuts to Bloated Pentagon Budget
Media Contact: Joel Payne, (202) 225-2661
Lee Opposes Defense Authorization Bill That Repeats the Same Mistakes All Over Again
Washington, DC – This week, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced several amendments to the Defense Authorization bill. Through her bipartisan work with Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI), Congresswoman Lee forced a floor vote on the Amash-Lee amendment which would strike the controversial Section 1034 from the bill.
Section 1034 represents a broad definition of undefined enemies in any country and for any time, and gives unchecked authority to current and future executive branch Administrations relating to war. She helped lead a bipartisan group of 187 House members to voice their strong opposition to this clause.
“On September 14, 2001, I placed the lone vote against the ‘Authorization of Use of Force’ because it was overly broad and amounted to a blank check to wage war anywhere, at any time, and for any length of time. Section 1034 in this bill goes far beyond that original authorization and allows for war without end anywhere in the world against any enemy,” said Congresswoman Lee. “While I am disappointed that this bill passed, I am encouraged that, this week, more members of Congress signaled that we must take swifter action to end our involvement in Afghanistan and take aggressive steps to prevent us from making the same mistake in the future. Congress is finally catching up to the American people, but our work continues to push for swift withdrawal from Afghanistan and to make sensible cuts to our bloated Pentagon budget.”
Below are short descriptions of some of the other amendments to this bill that the Congresswoman introduced and fought for:
- Limit funding in Afghanistan to protect our troops through safe, swift and orderly withdrawal
- Assert Congress’ expectation that the President announce a significant and sizeable reduction of troops levels in Afghanistan by no later than this July
- Affirm 2011 as the timeline for U.S. exit from military involvement in Iraq
- Freeze DoD spending until the Pentagon budget is audited
- Return Defense spending to 2008 levels
See HERE for video of Congresswoman Lee speaking out against Section 1034 which would expand of the “blank check” for endless war.
See HERE for video of Congresswoman Lee making the case for prohibiting any funding in the budget for permanent bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
See HERE for video of Congresswoman Lee calling for sensible cuts to the bloated Pentagon budget.
Follow Barbara Lee on Twitter @RepBarbaraLee
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