Mayors to Congress: bring war $$ home!

Since its founding in '03, CODEPINK's mission has been working to end U.S. funded wars and redirect resources to what the people need -- not profits for the military industrial complex!

Budget cuts at the city and state level for education, firefighters, transportation, housing and infrastructure repairs are not necessary! A few minutes of the war budget would restore funding that has been withdrawn e.g. a $1 million bomb would pay 25 school teachers for a year.
 
CODEPINK has been in on the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign from the start in the state of Maine, and has helped it spread to the national level. Mayors endorsing a resolution this month at their annual meeting in Baltimore include sponsoring Mayor Kitty Piercy of Eugene, Oregon plus:

• Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles, California
• Carolyn Peterson, Ithaca, New York
• Dave Norris, Charlottesville, Virginia 
• David Coss, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• John Duran, West Hollywood, California
• Gayle McLaughlin, Richmond, California 
• Bob Kiss, Burlington, Vermont
• R.T. Rybak, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Frank Ortis, Pembroke Pines, Florida
• Matthew Ryan, Binghamton, New York
• Paul Wiehl, Athens, Ohio
• Brenda Lawrence, Southfield, Michigan
• Joy Cooper, Hallandale Beach, Florida
• Joseph C. O'Brien, Worcester, Massachusetts
• Paul Soglin, Madison, Wisconsin
• Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore, Maryland
  
• David L. Konick, Rock Mills, Virginia*
• Joanne Twomey, Biddeford, Maine*

"As mayor of the city of Biddeford, we are cutting $1.6 million in our education budget, and last week I had had it and I'm starting to say it from the podium," Twomey said. "It's my responsibility as mayor of the city of Biddeford to start saying if our priorities were straight, if we could bring these war dollars home, I wouldn't have to be doing this, and neither would the Biddeford school board."

Join CODEPINK in action in Baltimore June 18-20 to let mayors from all over the US we want them to tell Congress: Bring our war dollars home!

A recent press release for the Maine campaign:
Maine leads the way in national campaign to bring war dollars home
 
Mayor Joanne Twomey of Biddeford, Maine has joined a group of mayors from all over the U.S. endorsing a resolution calling on Congress to redirect funds from war to domestic needs. The “bring war dollars home” resolution (see full text below) will be presented next month at the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Baltimore by sponsor Kitty Piercy of Eugene, Oregon.

The Bring Our War $$ Home campaign began in Maine last year and has swept the nation, gathering momentum that began when Stonington, Portland, and other Maine  locations passing resolutions that were sent to Congress. Rep. Chellie Pingree and Rep. Mike Michaud have been among those voting no on war funding supplemental bills in the past two years, and both voted yesterday against the FY12 Defense Authorization bill. Rep. Pingree had already indicated in an email that she intended to vote no on the bill, citing war costs.

Cities in all parts of the United States are feeling severe effects of funding cuts at the federal level. With another $118 billion on the verge of approval by the House of Representatives to fund wars in Fiscal Year 2012, mayors everywhere are asking why their cities are laying off police and firefighters, teachers and maintenance workers, while there seems to be money available for weapons.

Mayor Twomey has been a leader on this issue since speaking out at a council meeting in Biddeford and later at the state capitol Hall of Flags rally to Bring Our War $$ Home on April 9. Maine Public Radio broadcast her remarks: "As mayor of the city of Biddeford, we are cutting $1.6 million in our education budget, and last week I had had it and I'm starting to say it from the podium," Twomey said. "It's my responsibility as mayor of the city of Biddeford to start saying if our priorities were straight, if we could bring these war dollars home, I wouldn't have to be doing this, and neither would the Biddeford school board."  Link to the MPBN coverage of Mayor Twomey.

The war dollars home resolution will be taken up by the Metro Economies Policy Committee  Committee on June 18 and, if recommended by the committee, by the full plenary on June 20.

For more information on how to get your mayor involved, or to sign a petition to your rep in the House, visit bringourwardollarshome.org.

Text of the mayors' resolution :

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO REDIRECT MILITARY SPENDING TO DOMESTIC PRIORITIES

WHEREAS, the severity of the ongoing economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government and requires us to re-examine our national spending priorities; and

WHEREAS, the people of the United States are collectively paying approximately $126 billion dollars per year to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS, 6,024 members of the US armed forces have died in these wars; and at least 120,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the coalition attacks began.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports efforts to speed up the ending of these wars; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. Congress to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy.

Co-sponsors of the effort to seek mayoral endorsements: Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home, CODEPINK, U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW), Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) Ann Arbor & Sacramento, Peace Action,  Veterans For Peace, Chapter 61, St. Louis, New Priorities Network, and Community Alliance of Lane County, Oregon.
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Thank you, Eugene Mayor Piercy,
for your fearless leadership!