Tag: Obama

Congress Approaches Stalemate on War Authorization

As Congress begins to debate a war authorization, it’s become obvious that the debate has become a Goldilocks story without the “just right” part. Republicans think the President’s approach to an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) is too restrictive and Democrats think it’s too open-ended and […]

Urgent: don’t bomb Iraq

John McCain is shaking his fist angrily and calling for military action. Lindsey Graham is invoking terrorist attacks and describing American air power as “the only option.” The president is huddled with his advisers considering military options for Iraq. Did we just travel in a time machine to 2003? […]

Action alert: wars are not gym memberships

Our longest war just got even longer.  President Obama just announced that the US will have boots on the ground in Afghanistan for another 2 ½ years. When Congress voted to authorize the war way back in 2001, they surely didn’t know they were authorizing a 15-year occupation. […]

Action alert: we need your voice now

Congress needs to hear from you now. Today, the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has 10,000—yes,10,000—supporters on Capitol Hill pushing a hawkish, misinformed position on Iran diplomacy. Don’t let this be a one-sided debate. Tell Congress not to undermine talks with Iran. AIPAC has been the main proponent of […]

Previewing the Pentagon budget

Next week, the president will present his 2015 budget to Congress (about a month later than usual). With elections coming up, there will be a brief window of time for Congress to weigh in. While we don’t have all the details yet, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel previewed the […]

Action alert: time to choose: talks or war?

It’s time for Congress to choose sides. We’re at a crossroads, and the decisions our government makes could have costs in dollars and even lives. We’ve blocked a bad bill for now that politicians and pundits thought was a sure thing. But with talks for a permanent deal with Iran starting up this month, […]

Action alert: time to go on offense

The momentum is on our side. The Senate sanctions bill that Iran hawks sold as an inevitable victory is stopped in its tracks. President Obama used his high-profile State of the Union speech to mount a strong case for diplomacy and renew his threat to veto counterproductive sanctions. […]

Action alert: they’re at it again

I’m starting to think some senators are crazy enough to want a war with Iran. How else do you explain the 59 senators who are cosponsoring a bill that could be so damaging to negotiations that President Obama has already threatened to veto it? Tell your senators NOT […]

Iran deal in danger. Call now!

We told you the opponents of the Iran deal weren’t going to take this huge diplomatic victory lying down. Unfortunately, we were right. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is planning to introduce a bill to torpedo the Iran deal this week.  He wants to micromanage the administration’s diplomacy and put deal-killing expectations […]

Keep it going

“This administration, like Neville Chamberlain, is yielding large and bloody conflict in the Middle East involving Iranian nuclear weapons.”  I wish I could say these were the words of an irrelevant fringe commentator, but they came from Illinois Senator Mark Kirk (R) in response to the Obama administration’s […]