Urge Codification of Pause in Sale of Cluster Munitions to Saudi Arabia

From Peace Action (http://www.peace-action.org/):

Last week, nearly 80 Peace Action staff and organizers from around the country met for three days on Capitol Hill to plan, share skills and most importantly, meet with their Senators and Representatives. The timing was perfect as Congress is in the middle of the appropriations process where they vote on policy and spending on the issues you care about. One of the issues we lobbied on was stopping the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia has been involved in the war in Yemen where their weapons have claimed the lives of several thousand innocents.

A few days ago, reports say that the Obama Administration has paused the sale of horrific cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia. Cluster bombs indiscriminately kill civilians especially children because the unexploded, brightly-colored bomblets look like toys. Over a hundred countries have banned their use, manufacture and sales. We need to build on this small victory and this is where you come in.

Write Congress now and ask them to codify the U.S. pause of cluster munitions transfers to Saudi Arabia at http://org.salsalabs.com/o/161/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=19831.

Senators Murphy (D-CT) and Paul (R-KY) have introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to limit the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, which might get a vote next week. Besides this amendment, others have been offered on issues you and I champion:

*Senator Markey’s (D-MA) amendment would delay the duplicative and destabilizing new nuclear cruise missile, the Long Range Stand Off missile or LRSO. Other Senators are trying to protect the U.S. nuclear weapon escalation that could cost over $1 trillion over the next 30 years!

*Senator McCain (R-AZ) is trying to add $18 billion to the Pentagon budget even though the Democrats and Republicans agreed last year to specific caps and the U.S. total military spending is almost as much as all the other countries in the world military spending combined.

*Republicans are again trying to kill the historic and very successful Iran agreement by offering new sanctions and other detrimental amendments and legislation.

There’s a lot at stake in Congress over the next several weeks. The House may also take up some of these issues with the Defense Appropriations bill.

Take a few minutes to send this important, pre-written letter to your Senators and Representative and let them know you support decreasing Pentagon spending without affecting veterans’ benefits – especially nuclear weapons like the LRSO, limiting arms transfers to other countries like Saudi Arabia and opposing any legislation that might be detrimental to the Iran agreement in any way.

It was public pressure that helped prompt the Obama Administration to pause the sale of child-killing cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. Your voice can help make this pause permanent, cut Pentagon largesse, reduce nuclear weapons and protect the important Iran agreement.