Capitol
Hill Update, January 2009
 |
What
would YOU do in the first
100 days?
Public policy director
Marie Rietmann and WAND
executive director Susan
Shaer offer some words of
advice to President-elect
Barack Obama. Read
the letter here. |
A New Congress Goes to Work, too…
President Obama won’t do it alone; Congress will
play an essential role -- and
it’s important for Congress
to hear from you about vital security
and budget priority issues.
WAND is preparing to kick off a campaign in February: Congress Meets the Community. We encourage you to meet with your Senators and Representative when they are at home. Of course, WAND Policy staff will be working with Congress right here on Capitol
Hill too. Together we will
create a new synergy for progress
on our key issues.
One of the first opportunities for you to meet with your Members at home is
the February Congressional Recess:
Feb. 13-23. Congress will have just received the Federal
Budget for Fiscal Year 2010 (it
arrives on Feb. 2, with a later
amended version from President
Obama’s administration expected
in mid-April), and WAND will initiate
its annual budget priorities letter.
(See WAND’s
2008 letter. Our 2009 letter
will be finalized shortly after
Feb. 2.)
We hope you will join with us by:
1)
Organizing a Community
Congressional Conversation
with your Senators and Representative
while they are at home during
the February recess. We’ll provide
you with plenty of help to do
this! For more information, contact
Kathy
Robinson, WAND Public Policy
Field Director and stay tuned
for more information on WAND’s
website.
2)
Finding organizations in your
community to sign on to WAND’s
annual budget priorities letter.
3)
Writing a letter to the editor
or op-ed for your local paper.
We will soon be sending you sample
letters and tips for getting your
letters published.
More information will be coming soon! |
|
|
WAND
and other budget experts estimate
that the total president’s
request for Pentagon spending
(Department of Defense plus nuclear
weapons portion of the Department
of Energy budget) that will be
submitted to Congress on Feb.
2 will be over $600 billion, not
including war spending.
This
request the administration will
submit on Feb. 2 is the one President
Bush developed. President Obama
will submit a "budget amendment"
soon, expected in April.
Delay
Expected for Full 2010 Budget Proposal
By William Matthews | Defense News
| January 12, 2009
The first task for Robert Hale,
if he is confirmed as the Pentagon's
new finance chief, will be to write
a 2010 defense budget.
His predecessor, acting defense
comptroller Kevin Scheid, didn't.
Instead of the usual annual spending
plan that's big enough to fill several
books, on Feb. 2 the U.S.
Defense Department is expected to
send Congress a budget outline that
likely won't fill more than a handful
of pages.
It will include a "top line,"
or outgoing President George W.
Bush's proposed 2010 defense spending
total - about $587 billion. And
it may include totals for such categories
as procurement, research and development,
personnel.
Then, according to congressional
staffers, the Defense Department,
under marching orders from incoming
President Barack Obama, will spend
two months or so drafting the real
2010 defense budget. It won't arrive
on Capitol Hill until April, a House
staffer said. |
|
Pentagon
Tries to Lock Obama Into an Outrageously
Bloated Budget
By
Mark Engler, In
These Times | December 24,
2008
The
last decade brought a momentous
surge in defense appropriations.
Even without the additional money
called for in the October estimate,
proposed military spending for 2010
almost doubles the already astronomical
budget from fiscal year 2000, which
was approximately $280 billion.
This,
however, is not the whole story.
Adding to the Pentagon "base
budget," an extra $16 billion
goes each year to the Department
of Energy to maintain nuclear
weapons. And Congress funds wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan with supplemental
authorizations, which came to
$180 billion in fiscal year 2008.
The
country spends as much on the
military in a single year as it
did in the recent $700 billion
financial bailout. Yet the Pentagon
is now calling for more.
|
|
Government’s
Promise
New
York Times Editorial | January
19, 2009
When
he accepted his party’s
nomination last year, Barack Obama
repudiated the “you’re
on your own” ethos that
had come to define the government’s
relationship to the people. He
said government cannot do everything,
but he promised one that would
do what individuals cannot do
for themselves: “protect
us from harm and provide every
child a decent education; keep
our water clean and our toys safe;
invest in new schools and new
roads and new science and technology.”
|
|
Obama
says stimulus to include energy
savings
By Tom Doggett and Ayesha Rascoe
| Reuters
| January 7, 2009
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama
said on Wednesday that his economic
stimulus package will include
investments designed to save billions
of dollars in energy costs and
create jobs quickly.
At
his first press conference in
2009, Obama said "a
lot of the investment" in
the stimulus package would be
in energy, health care and education,
which he called "things that
we need to be doing anyway."
|
| Join
us in February to welcome
new Congresswomen committed
to change!
Tuesday
• February 3, 2009 | 5:00
- 7:00 p.m.
Rayburn House Office Building
| Room B-338 | Washington, DC
WAND
PAC is excited to welcome TEN
new women to the 111th Congress!
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH)
| Rep. Donna Edwards (MD-4)
Rep. Marcia Fudge (OH-11) |
Rep. Debbie Halvorson (IL-11)
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)
| Rep. Betsy Markey (CO-4)
Rep. Chellie Pingree (ME-1)
| Rep. Laura Richardson (CA-37)
Rep. Jackie Speier (CA-12) |
Rep. Niki Tsongas (MA-5)
 |
That's
newly elected Congresswoman
Debbie Halvorson (IL-11)
(c) with WAND staff Christina
Cernansky (l) and Marie
Rietmann (r). We're especially
excited to welcome Debbie
to Congress: she made the
decision to run while attending
the 2007 WAND/WiLL national
conference in DC! |
The
tallest woman is newly
elected Congresswoman
Donna Edwards (MD-4),
a longtime friend of WAND
and WiLL. Next to her
in the center is former
WAND staff Darcy Scott
Martin, who worked tirelessly
for Donna. |
 |
On
the left is seasoned progressive
leader Congresswoman Chellie
Pingree (ME-1). We're so
pleased to welcome her expertise
and integrity to the new
Congress. |
|
|
Oregon
WAND keeps on keeping on! More
from their silent auction
These
hand made items were sold at
the WAND auction in December.
The jacket pattern is called
Mt. Fuji and is pieced to look
as if it is made from old kimonos.
The seamstress got the idea
for the project after reading
the book One Sunny Day
by Hideko Tamura Snider, the
survivor who spoke in Eugene
about her life in Hiroshima
after the bomb.
The
vest is a fabric collage. Cranes
taking flight remind WAND of
Sadako and her origami crane
folding effort to survive the
leukemia she contracted following
the bomb.
|
Atlanta
WAND becomes Georgia WAND in 2009!
In
this exciting new year of 2009,
we are proud that Atlanta WAND
will be marking our 25th anniversary
as a chapter! We will also be
changing our name to Georgia WAND
to better reflect our focus as
we expand our organization and
broaden our outreach and our circles
of community.
Georgia
WAND holds press conference on
nuclear reactors
Georgia
WAND held a press conference for
a GA Public Service Commission
hearing on January 12th. Georgia
Power is asking the Georgia Public
Service Commission (PSC) for approval
to build two new nuclear reactors
at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro,
GA along the Savannah River.
Later in the day,
Georgia WAND board president
Krista Brewer was interviewed
on WRFG-89.3FM and WABE-FM 90.1
with Charles Edwards.
Above
is a photo of two ‘money
hogs’ nuclear cooling
towers (Risky #3 and Risky #4)
that would cost at least $6.4
billion a piece. These are towers
for the yet to be approved Westinghouse
AP 1000 reactors. We feel Georgia
Power calling these ‘clean’
energy and ‘good for Georgia’
is like putting ‘lipstick
on a pig’….
|
Women
Named to Cabinet, Cabinet Level
and Other Top Positions in the
Obama Administration
Keep
track here: Fun reading! |
WAND
and WiLL enjoy festivities around
the inauguration
WAND
Executive Director Susan Shaer
shared with the panel at The
People's Inaugural Women's Leadership
Luncheon. Susan commented to
panelists, which included Congresswomen
Jan Schakowsky (bottom) and
Donna Edwards (top), “with
our nuclear weapons, bombs,
and wars, we have overspent
on the military budget and that
doesn’t pass muster.”
This comment was well received
by the women in the audience
who cheered and applauded. Yes
we are moving in a New Direction!
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|
|
Peace
and Security Community Meets
with Transition Team
WAND
Public Policy Director Marie
Rietmann has been part of a
group that has worked for a
year and a half to develop the
New
Roadmap for U.S. Global Engagement.
In mid-January, they
presented their findings
to Gayle Smith and others of
President-Elect Obama's transition
team.
DC staff of the American Friends
Service Committee led the effort.
(l
to r): Marie Rietmann, Women’s
Action for New Directions (WAND);
Kitty Dana, AFSC; Alissa Wilson,
AFSC; Miriam Pemberton, Institute
for Policy Studies; Lorelei
Kelley, American Progressive
Caucus Policy Foundation; Joe
Volk, Friends Committee on National
Legislation; Margaret Goodman,
Former House Foreign Affairs
Committee Staff and NGO public
policy specialist
|
|
Little
bit of fun? Visit the official
White
House web site, and
see that name -- Barack Obama
-- right smack on top of the pages...
Also read on for some inspiring
bits...
Move
Toward a Nuclear Free World:
Obama and Biden will set a goal
of a world without nuclear weapons,
and pursue it. Obama and Biden
will always maintain a strong
deterrent as long as nuclear weapons
exist. But they will take several
steps down the long road toward
eliminating nuclear weapons. They
will stop the development of new
nuclear weapons; work with Russia
to take U.S. and Russian ballistic
missiles off hair trigger alert;
seek dramatic reductions in U.S.
and Russian stockpiles of nuclear
weapons and material; and set
a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian
ban on intermediate-range missiles
so that the agreement is global.
National
Missile Defense: The
Obama-Biden Administration will
support missile defense, but ensure
that it is developed in a way
that is pragmatic and cost-effective;
and, most importantly, does not
divert resources from other national
security priorities until we are
positive the technology will protect
the American public.
Obama
on nuclear threat in inaugural
speech:
"With
old friends and former foes, we
will work tirelessly to lessen
the nuclear threat"
|
|
New
directions for foreign relations
By John F. Kerry | Boston
Globe | January 13, 2009
We
live under the constant threat
of catastrophic terrorism. In
recent weeks, we have heard chilling
warnings about the prospect of
nuclear terrorism. No issue is
more urgent than dealing with
nuclear proliferation. And none
cries out louder for international
cooperation. We need to
signal the world that the United
States is again ready to lead
the way toward a world free of
nuclear weapons. The
ultimate goal may be far in the
future, but now is the time to
begin the journey with two dramatic
steps.
|
|
The
Point: Best new foreign policy?
Ban nukes
By Mark Bowden | Philadelphia
Inquirer | January 11, 2009
Thousands of hydrogen
bombs are still overkill by any
measure. If the goal is deterrence,
the only responsible purpose for
such weapons, then there is no
absolute number required. If your
enemy has one, then all you need
is one. Even President Ronald
Reagan's dream of "total
elimination" is achievable.
It is not possible, of course,
to rebottle knowledge, but one
can envision a world in which
such weapons have all been disassembled,
and where international inspectors
labor to keep them that way -
in keeping with a favorite Reagan
principle, "Trust but verify."
... If, instead
of the clash of ideology and religion
that currently defines our standoff
with the mullahs in Iran, pressure
were brought to bear in this context,
it would become far more difficult
to defend that country's nuclear
ambitions.
|
|
For
a Nuclear Weapons-Free World
by Helmut Schmidt, Richard von
Weizsaecker, Egon Bahr, Hans-Dietrich
Genscher, Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung, January 9, 2008.
We
unconditionally support the call
of the four eminent U.S. persons
for a radical change of direction
in nuclear weapons policies, not
only in the United States. This
relates specifically to the following
proposals: The vision of a world
without the nuclear threat, as
it has been developed by Reagan
and Gorbachev in Reykjavik, has
to be revived. Negotiations have
to be started with the goal of
drastic cuts in nuclear weapons,
first between the United States
and Russia, which possess the
largest number of nuclear weapons,
in order to also attract the other
states that possess such weapons.
The NPT has to be strengthened
decisively. The United States
has ratify the CTBT. All short-range
nuclear weapons have to be dismantled.
UK
does not need a nuclear deterrent
Nuclear weapons must not be seen
to be vital to the secure defence
of self-respecting nations | January
16, 2009
The
Times of London | Field Marshal
Lord Bramall, General
Lord Ramsbotham, General Sir Hugh
Beach, House of Lords, London
Even
major-player status in the international
military scene is more likely
to find expression through effective,
strategically mobile conventional
forces, capable of taking out
pinpoint targets, than through
the possession of unusable nuclear
weapons. Our independent deterrent
has become virtually irrelevant
except in the context of domestic
politics. Rather than perpetuating
Trident, the case is much stronger
for funding our Armed Forces with
what they need to meet the commitments
actually laid upon them.
|
|
Let's
Commit to a Nuclear-Free World
By DIANNE FEINSTEIN | Wall
Street Journal | 3 January 2009
Bush's attempts to enlarge
our arsenal sent precisely the
wrong message
Here's
how President-elect Obama can
change course. By law he must
set forth his views on nuclear
weapons in U.S. national security
strategy, in his Nuclear Posture
Review, by 2010. In it, he should
commit the U.S. to working with
Russia to lower each nation's
arsenal of deployed nuclear warheads
below the 1,700-2,200 the Moscow
Treaty already calls for by 2013.
It
would be a strong step toward
reducing our bloated arsenals,
and signal the world that we have
changed course.
|
|
Twisted
History: False Claims of Bush's
Success on WMD
Joe Cirincione | Huffington
Post | January 13, 2009
we
just want to set the record straight
on the 10 big wins claimed on
nuclear weapons. Rather than making
us safer, President Bush leaves
office with nearly every proliferation
problem more dangerous than when
he entered. Here are the claims
and the facts... |
| Nuclear
weapons in U.S. national security
policy: past, present, and prospects
Report
from Congressional Research Service
| December 30, 2008
The
Bush Administration has outlined
a strategy of “tailored
deterrence” to define the
role that nuclear weapons play
in U.S. national security policy.
There has been little discussion
of this concept, either in Congress
or in the public at large. This
leaves unanswered questions about
how this strategy differs from
U.S. nuclear strategy during the
Cold War and how it might advise
decisions about the size and structure
of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. |
U.N.
Acquires Nuclear Weapon
The
Onion | January 13, 2009
"Tremble
before the awesome might of this
cooperative assembly of appointed
representatives," said Ban,
boldly holding a stack of diplomatic
resolutions in his hand. "At
last, when the United Nations
calls for the development of more
sustainable agricultural practices,
the world at large will listen."
|
|
Securing
the Bomb 2008
Commissioned
by the Nuclear Threat Initiative,
the report finds that the world
still faces a "very real"
risk that terrorists could get
a nuclear bomb. The Obama Administration
must make reducing that risk a
top priority of U.S. security
policy and diplomacy, according
to the report, which is accompanied
by a paper offering a specific
agenda for the presidential transition
and the opening weeks of the new
administration.
"Preventing
Nuclear Terrorism: An Agenda for
the Next President"
Matthew
Bunn and Andrew Newman, Belfer Center,
Harvard University Kennedy School
| November 2008
A
single terrorist nuclear bomb
could rip the heart out of any
major city, turning it into a
modern Hiroshima. Such a catastrophe
would transform America and the
world forever. Despite the myriad
other challenges the new president
will confront, President-elect
Obama must make clear that keeping
nuclear weapons and the materials
needed to make them out of terrorist
hands is a top priority of his
administration that will not be
pushed onto the back burner. |
| Iraqi
and U.S. Forces Ramping Up Security
Ahead of Provincial Elections
Middle
East Online. Posted January
9, 2009.
Iraqi
and U.S. military forces will ramp
up security ahead of landmark provincial
elections set for January 31 when
up to 15 million Iraqis could go
to the polls, officials said on
Thursday. |
|
Military
Leaders to Be Among Obama’s
First Priorities
New
York Times | By BRIAN KNOWLTON
| January 18, 2009
On
his first full day in office,
Mr. Obama will order American
military leaders to plan the speedy
withdrawal of combat troops from
Iraq and will direct his economic
advisers to do everything possible
to avert a prolonged downturn
and double-digit unemployment,
his top aides said Sunday.
|
|
At
Confirmation Hearing, Clinton
Talks of Engagement With Iran
By
Glenn Kessler | Washington
Post | January 14, 2009
Clinton
said flatly yesterday that Bush's
effort has "not worked"
and that President-elect Barack
Obama's team is "very open
to looking to a positive, effective
way of engaging with Iran."
She acknowledged that the effort
represents a gamble and insisted
that a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable
to Obama, but she added: "We
won't know what we're capable
of achieving until we're actually
there working on it."
...Clinton appeared
most passionate when she spoke on
a subject normally absent from the
list of priorities for the nation's
top diplomat -- the plight of the
2 billion people who earn less than
$2 a day, especially women and girls,
who she said "comprise the
majority of the world's unhealthy,
unschooled, unfed and unpaid." |
|
How
to Deal with Iran
By William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering,
Jim Walsh | New
York Review of Books | February
12, 2009
Three
of the most pressing national
security issues facing the Obama
administration—nuclear proliferation,
the war in Iraq, and the deteriorating
situation in Afghanistan—have
one element in common: Iran. The
Islamic Republic has made startling
progress over the past few years
in its nuclear program. Setting
aside recent, misleading reports
that Iran already has enough nuclear
fuel to build a weapon, the reality
is that Tehran now has five thousand
centrifuges for enriching uranium
and is steadily moving toward
achieving the capability to build
nuclear bombs. Having the capacity
to build a nuclear weapon is not
the same thing as having one,
and having a large stock of low-enriched
uranium is not the same as having
the highly enriched uranium necessary
for a bomb. But the Obama administration
cannot postpone dealing with the
nuclear situation in Iran, as
President Bush did.
|
Women
in State Legislatures: 2009 Legislative
Session
When the 2009 legislative sessions
begin this January, there will be
at least 1,785 women legislators
serving in the 50 states. Over one-third
of them are WiLL members. However,
women still only hold 24.2 percent
of state legislative seats, a ratio
that has increased by less than
4 percentage points over the past
fifteen years. Although this was
a historic year for women in politics,
the number of women serving in state
legislatures actually decreased
by 1 percent. South Carolina’s
Senate lost its two women senators
and became the only all-male legislative
body in the nation. With the problems
our nation faces, it is more important
than ever that we get women elected
to office and encourage them to
run for higher office. Despite their
underrepresentation in state houses
and Congress, women have proven
time and again that they can take
on tough issues and find progressive
solutions.
New
Hampshire's State Senate: The First
Female-Majority State Legislature
in the Nation
In
exciting news, after the 2008 election,
New Hampshire became the first state
with a female-majority legislative
house! Thirteen members of the 24-seat
chamber are women (all 13 are also
mothers). Legislators in New Hampshire
are accustomed to juggling numerous
roles and jobs in what is essentially
a volunteer position: the annual
salary for state senators is just
$100. Both chambers of the legislature
are also led by women. Sylvia Larsen
is President of the Senate and Terie
Norelli is Speaker of the House.
Two
Former WiLL Members get Seats at
Higher Tables of Power
Two
former WiLL members were assigned
to Congressional security committees
that vote on key foreign policy
decisions. U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen
was assigned to the powerful Foreign
Relations Committee and U.S. Representative
Chellie Pingree was placed on the
House Armed Services Committee.
We look forward to working with
their offices in the 111th Congress.
|
|
Ecumenical
Advocacy Days
| March 13-16, 2009
The goal is to strengthen the
Christian voice and to mobilize
for advocacy on a wide variety
of U.S. domestic and international
policy issues.
WAND’s
Women of Faith in Action Organizer
Amanda Hendler-Voss will
lead a workshop at EAD; WAND will
be providing our American
Pie Exercise to all participants.
|
- Learn
from experts and maximize your
impact
- Meet
with Members of Congress
- Network
with activists from across the
country
WAND’s
Public Policy Field Director,
Kathy Robinson is participating
in the planning and training for
this year’s DC Days event.
Please
let Kathy know if you are planning
to participate in either Ecumenical
Advocacy Days or Alliance for
Nuclear Accountability DC Days!
krobinson@wand.org (202) 544-5055
ext. 2605
|
| 
Saturday,
March 21, 2009 | Full
agenda here.
With
pre-conference programs for women
of color on Friday, March 20
Douglass
Campus Center, Rutgers-New Brunswick
Reserve your space now - early
bird rate available only until
Feb. 20th!
|
IDEAS,
VISIONS, RESOURCES FOR
A BETTER WORLD |
 |
WAND
Education Fund participates
in some great online shopping/giving
options. We
encourage you to participate!
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Fund as your cause.)
And
it's not just books! Oh,
no. It's toys, groceries, DVDs,
magazines, and even gift certificates!
It's all good. |
 |
Be
part of a powerful community
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