The House of Representatives could vote today to give President Bush another $100 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Democratic Party leadership of the House is trying to portray this bill as a positive step toward ending the war, and some organizations are saying the bill challenges the Bush Administration's failed policy in Iraq, and therefore should be supported by the antiwar movement.

United for Peace and Justice strongly disagrees.

We urge you to call your representative in the House NOW and tell him or her to VOTE NO on the supplemental, to VOTE NO on the "Iraq Accountability Act."

If you are not sure who represents you in Congress, you can find out by clicking here: http://capwiz.com/fconl/directory/congdir.tt

Call the Congressional Switchboard toll-free: 888-851-1879 (ask the operator to connect you to your Representative's office).

Your message is simple:

• Bring the troops home now;

• Vote NO on the supplemental (the "Iraq Accountability Act");

• Support military funding only for the safe withdrawal of the troops (the Lee amendment).

Here are some of the reasons we oppose the supplemental spending bill (also known as the "Iraq Accountability Act") the House will be voting on:

• It funds both the continued occupation of Iraq and Bush's escalation of the war.

• It allows Bush to decide when U.S. troop withdrawal should begin -- possibly not until Sept. 1, 2008 -- a full 18 months from now.
  

• It is silent on the question of attacking Iran. (Language requiring Congressional authorization for military action against Iran was removed from the bill.)

• It allows an unspecified number of troops (10,000? 30,000? 50,000?) to remain in Iraq indefinitely.

• It would bring spending on the Iraq war to more than $500 BILLION!

Democratic members of Congress may tell you, "this is the best we can do." No, this is not the best they can do! The voters of this country didn't elect a new Congress to give us excuses; we elected them to use their power to end this war -- to stop the flow of money for war and to set a specific, short-term timeframe for bringing the troops home.

Any funds Congress appropriates must be restricted to withdrawing the troops as soon as practicable. We are outraged that the Congressional leadership might not allow an amendment from Rep. Barbara Lee (and supported by Reps. Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey) to even come to the floor for debate. This amendment would limit the use of new funds to the safe withdrawal of all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq by December 31, 2007, to reconstruction in Iraq and to regional diplomacy efforts. If the Lee Amendment is allowed to come to the floor, we will call on the members of the House to vote YES on it.

The Congressional struggle is far from over. Next week the Senate will debate and vote on its version of the supplemental. The two versions passed in the House and the Senate will then go to a conference committee, where differences between them will be reconciled. In other words, there will be more opportunities to pressure Congress to begin to do the right thing. We will keep you updated on what's happening in the Senate and will let you know when calls to your Senators are needed. But right now, the most important thing is to call members of the House!