In the midst of all the partisan budget battles in DC that dominated press reports over the past two weeks, there was a glimmer of bipartisan cooperation on how important it is to secure adequate funding to implement the President’s LRA strategy. Since our last update on April 4, eight Members of Congress have joined a bipartisan team of Senators and Representatives in an effort to ensure this historic strategy has the funding it needs in the FY2012 budget to have a real chance of achieving an end to LRA violence.
Since then several other members of Congress have supported their colleague’s efforts. Agreeing that the strategy is meaningless without a fiscal commitment to ensure it is put into action, two more Senators – Al Franken (D-MN) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) – added their signatures to the letter to Senators Patrick Leahy and Lindsey Graham, their colleagues on the Senate appropriations subcommittee for foreign affairs. (Senators Menendez, Boozman, Wyden, Coons, Inhofe, Boxer, Bingaman and Lieberman have also signed the letter. You can read more about that here.)
Additionally, several Representatives – John Lewis (D-GA5), Aaron Schock (R-IL18), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL9), Mike Capuano (D-MA8), Gwen Moore (D-WI4) and John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI14) – signed on to the letter to Representatives Kay Granger and Nita Lowey, their colleagues on the House of Representative appropriations subcommittee for foreign affairs.
If you are a constituent of any of these LRA champions, please take a moment to join us in our appreciation for their efforts by following the links above to send them a quick thank you for taking action.
– Paul