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Congressional Progressive Caucus, http://cpc.lee.house.gov
Barbara Lee Calls For Aggressive Oversight on Bush Move Towards
Permanent Military Presence in Iraq (Washington, DC) - Today Congresswoman Barbara Lee, co-chair of
the Congressional Progressive Caucus, sent a letter to the Speaker
requesting that appropriate Committee Chairs quickly schedule
oversight hearings regarding the recent Bush Signing Statement to
circumvent a key provision in the Defense Authorization Act (H.R.
4986) against a permanent military presence in Iraq.
The letter, co-authored by Congresswomen Lee, Lynn Woolsey and
Maxine Waters, states, “We believe that Congress must find
out and the American public made aware of the serious consequences
of long-term military basing agreements or treaties that bypass
congressional action as the ‘Declaration of Principles’.
In addition, it is critical to shed light on the implications of
the President’s signing statement and intention to ignore the
law. At the same time it is also imperative to give greater
scrutiny to the Bush administration’s efforts to maintain a
long-term or indefinite military presence in Iraq. Holding hearings
will complement the 166 hearings on Iraq that Democrats have held
since you became our speaker in January 2007.”
Congresswoman Lee issued the following statement:
“Circumventing this important provision is contrary to the
law and oversight hearings are clearly needed for Congress to get
answers and for the American public to be assured the law is not
being side stepped.
“We need to know why President Bush wants to ignore a key
provision he signaled he would uphold by signing the bill into law
in the first place. “This latest action by this Republican administration
seems to flagrantly disregard the law of the land. The President
has signed into law, five times, legislation that included similar
provisions to prohibit permanent military bases in Iraq since 2006
(PL109-289, PL 109-364, PL 110-28, PL 110-116, and PL 110-161.).
Now he arbitrarily wants an exemption from the provision in the
FY08 Defense Authorization bill. “We need answers and we need them now. Congress must
immediately hold the Bush administration accountable.” # # # Congresswoman Barbara Lee (Oakland-D) is co-chair of the
Progressive Caucus and a co-founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus. She
sits on the House Appropriations Committee, where she serves on the
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Subcommittee, the State
Foreign Operations Subcommittee and is Vice-Chair of the
Legislative Branch Subcommittee. LETTER TEXT FOLLOWS: February 1, 2008 Hon. Nancy Pelosi Dear Speaker Pelosi: President George W. Bush issued a signing statement on Monday,
January 28, 2008 where he signaled his intent to ignore a provision
in the FY08 Department of Defense Authorization Bill (PL 110-181)
that prohibits permanent military bases in Iraq. We urge you to
request the appropriate committee chairs to quickly schedule
oversight hearings on this important issue.
We believe this is a particularly contradictory and serious
development given that the President has signed similar provisions
into law five times before. (PL109-289, PL 109-364, PL 110-28, PL
110-116, and PL 110-161.) When a majority of the American people are committed to ending
our occupation in Iraq on a timeline within a year, in making this
proclamation President Bush has only reinforced what we have always
known; that he intends our occupation in Iraq to be indefinite.
Sadly, this is a pattern of behavior from a White House that
seems intent on cutting Congress out of any decisions relating to
the permanent stationing of the US military in Iraq. At the end of
last year, without any congressional input, President Bush and
Prime Minister al-Maliki signed a “Declaration of Principles
for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between
the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America” that
will set the stage for future agreements on the disposition of US
troops in Iraq and other wide-ranging aspects of this important
bilateral relationship. (We introduced H.R. 5128, legislation
disapproving of any agreement that doesn’t have the approval
of both houses of Congress and that of the Iraqi Parliament, too) We believe that Congress must find out and the American public
made aware of the serious consequences of long-term military basing
agreements or treaties that bypass congressional action as the
‘Declaration of Principles’. In addition, it is
critical to shed light on the implications of the President’s
signing statement and intention to ignore the law. At the same time
it is also imperative to give greater scrutiny to the Bush
administration’s efforts to maintain a long-term or
indefinite military presence in Iraq. Holding hearings will
complement the 166 hearings on Iraq that Democrats have held since
you became our speaker in January 2007.
We appreciate your strong leadership and commitment in ending
the US occupation of Iraq and look forward to working with you on
this matter. Sincerely, BARBARA LEE LYNN WOOSLEY MAXINE WATERS From ufpj-news Informant: David Swanson
Congress Members Call for Hearings on Signing Statement
Speaker
US House of Representatives
The
Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Member of Congress
Member of Congress
Member of Congress
.
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