Today, the House of Representatives passed, by a margin of 286 to 138, the bi-partisan Senate version reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) legislation which puts forth means toward the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women and imposes automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted. This marks a change of heart by House Republican Leadership who held up the reauthorization last year by refusing to bring the Senate’s version to the floor, passing its own version which left out important provisions, which stalled in bi-cameral reconciliations negotiations.

This year’s newly reauthorized VAWA contains new clauses not included in the original legislation from 1994 or subsequent reauthorizations in 2000 and 2005, extending protections to LGBT and Native American victims of domestic violence, and shining more light on the prevention of sexual assault.

House Republican Leadership did bring their own bill without these provisions to the floor before the Senate version giving their members an opportunity to vote on the record for a version they did agree with, even though it was known that they wouldn’t have the votes to pass it. Indeed it failed with 166 yes-votes and 267 no-votes.

And just to complicate things, this is all taking place during the impending threat of sequestration – across-the-board indiscriminate federal budget cuts slated to take effect tomorrow, March 1, if Congress does not take action to stop it. Funding for programs that directly address violence against women, like domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, children’s services, prevention, community outreach, and other state and local programs that provide services for victims and families, are all on the chopping block. We need Congress to get its act together and figure out a balanced way to cut our deficit that will not sacrifice the well-being of American women. Maybe they should look at the Pentagon budget, where outdated programs that military leaders have said they no longer want or need somehow continue to receive funding. We need Congress to reshape federal budget priorities and AND the way we care for our female citizens.

This is a case where “almost” just isn’t good enough. We must do our part to make sure ALL American women are safe and secure, reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act is just the first step.

But hang on for the ride – there will be a few more fiscal “cliffs,” “curbs,” “mudslides,” “berms,” or whatever bumpy metaphor you might like to use. Decisions about spending cuts of the so-called “sequestration” were not part of this deal. Instead they were passed off to the next Congress being sworn in on January 3, 2012 to figure out with a new March 1 deadline. And by the way, the budget for Fiscal Year 2013 was never completed. Instead Congress passed a stop-gap Continuing Resolution funding the government until March 27. We need a deal by then to keep the government running. In addition, we are reaching the debt ceiling. Without congressional agreement to raise the debt ceiling, we risk government shutdown, defaulting on loans and economic disasters.

Ready for more? In the midst of this roller coaster start to 2013, there will be plenty of need to raise the issue of budget priorities. We cannot afford to make cuts to everything else while letting the bloated Pentagon budget escape fiscal discipline. Fortunately, some new voices are starting to recognize this, too. Conservative leader of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, says that, “Serious conservatives need to declare that they, that taxpayers, are looking at the entire budget and saying, ‘where can we be more efficient and more effective?’ We have a rather large Pentagon budget, larger than most of the other countries in the world that have armies, navies, and air forces combined.”

Nevertheless we know well that the defense industry lobbyists are ready to make the case for more nuclear weapons, more F-35s, maybe even more bayonets and a cavalry, too.

We hope you are as ready as those lobbyists – ready to make the case for budget priorities that will lead us to safety, strength and prosperity, even if we have to make it through a few bumps and spins to get there.

Published: December 4, 2012 by The Hill's Congress Blog

Republished: December 22, 2012 by NJ Today

With the campaigns over, our leaders must roll up their sleeves and get to work on the serious financial decisions facing the nation. Congress has known for more than a year that automatic budget cuts and tax increases loom in January, but they’ve left all the work to be done at the last minute. They need to hear from us that we expect them to make a balanced deal to preserve programs that strengthen our nation while making sensible budget cuts to programs that are wasteful or unnecessary.

As state legislators, we battled to maintain critical investments in our states as revenues plunged with the start of the Great Recession. We provide many services to our communities in partnership with the federal government, so the possibility of further deep cuts to these programs is of great concern. Education, health care, housing, and transportation, along with an array of lesser known but equally important programs, are critically important to meet the needs of our citizens.

These programs are especially important right now as people still face significant struggles to recover from the down economy. Millions have lost their jobs, or face the daily fear of layoffs, decreased hours and reduced wages. It’s often said that we can’t afford to meet these needs and rebuild the economy, but really we can’t afford not to. It’s simply a question of government spending priorities that serve the greater good versus a handful of special interests.

Our leaders must recognize the need for investments that promote jobs and build the economy, even as we cut back on spending. Unlike most other areas of spending, the Pentagon budget has grown unchecked for the past decade. But it is not clear that these dollars are the investment we need for the 21st century. Reshaping Pentagon spending, which currently eats up more than half of the discretionary spending that Congress allocates annually, will be crucial to any deal on the federal budget.

America maintains a large and expensive nuclear arsenal from the Cold War era. For the cost of just one new nuclear submarine, we could provide body armor and bomb-resistant Humvees to all our troops overseas, house and treat every homeless U.S. veteran, and still have $2.2 billion left over to pay down debt. Our troops and security should come before pork-barrel programs.

Our national security priorities must include a reduction in drawn-out expensive wars with massive price tags and lasting negative effects felt here at home and in the nations where wars are waged. We are still stuck in Afghanistan – America’s longest war. We need an exit strategy that focuses on a political solution in Afghanistan, with particular concern for the welfare of women and children.

Responsibly reshaping Pentagon spending would free up money for much-needed investments here at home. Programs that keep us safe, like border security, disaster relief, and air traffic control, and programs that are investments in our long-term economic stability, like education, all face cuts in the coming year. Necessary funding to state and local communities is also on the chopping block. This November and December, we must urge our leaders to find a balanced approach to the so-called “fiscal fiasco” that does not exempt Pentagon spending at the expense of crucial domestic programs.

We are at a critical crossroads in deciding how we as a nation want to spend our money and build our economy. Do we want to invest in education? Roads and bridges? Safe communities and safe borders? Or do we want to continue pouring money into wasteful programs that the Pentagon doesn’t want or need? Will we reshape the Pentagon budget to address 21st century threats, or continue to waste money on Cold War-era weapons?

The good people of Georgia and all fifty states are relying on Congress to find a balanced approach to put us back on the path to prosperity. Our vote on November 6 expressed a belief that Americans, working together, can craft solutions and rebuild our national economy. The votes have been counted. Let’s get to work.

Published: December 25, 2012 by the Cambridge Chronicle & Tab

And, besides, we are not exempt from questions about our own human rights policies -- the use of drones, our inability to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and our growing and unchecked Pentagon budget that allocates funds to war and defense contractors instead of vital programs that address healthcare, hunger, child abuse and education, for example.

Steve Rothstein, president of the Perkins School for the Blind, said that he could not sleep if he were one of the senators voting no. When he explained that 4.5 million children in the world cannot go to school because they are blind, I could only think of our neighbor’s child who is a student at Perkins and has made great progress there.

It is time to join the rest of the world and work for the goals that represent our better selves.

I and my fellow advocates at Women’s Action for New Directions will be watching and hoping for another vote in the next Congress. Next time, let’s get it right.

By Sandy Pappas

Published: July 25, 2012 by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency

OPINION

MINNEAPOLIS (JTA) -- As July ends and we wind down the Three Weeks before Tisha b’Av, we mourn the destruction of both Holy Temples. Unfortunately, this is not the only destruction that bears remembrance.

This August marks the 67th anniversary of the only time that nuclear weapons were ever used in warfare. The United States tested the first nuclear weapon in July 1945 and dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9 that year.

These events spawned the nuclear race, with 2,056 nuclear weapons tests conducted worldwide and new and more deadly weapons developed at a fast and furious pace. At the peak of the Cold War there were some 70,000 nuclear weapons.

Even though the numbers of nuclear weapons have decreased since the Cold War, enough of them are still around to blow up the planet. Ninety percent of the weapons are in the United States and Russia. America continues to rely on strategic plans, targeting and alert status settings that were conceived during the Cold War. We also spend billions of dollars each year to maintain our oversized arsenal.

In December 2010, the U.S. Senate approved the ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the support of our military leadership and bipartisan support from 71 senators, including all 13 Jewish senators in office at the time. New START reduced U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and established a foundational process for verifying these and future reductions.

It is in America’s best interest to further this nuclear downsizing.

The Obama administration has been working on a plan to establish new policy guidance for the purpose, size and structure of U.S. nuclear weapons. Further reductions and a change in strategies are needed to meet 21st century security needs. As President Obama said in March, “We have more nuclear weapons than we need. I firmly believe that we can ensure the security of the United States and our allies, maintain a strong deterrent against any threat, and still pursue further reductions in our nuclear arsenal.”

Other security experts agree. In April, Gen. James Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of U.S. nuclear forces under President George W. Bush, called for an 80 percent reduction in U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. Further, Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said in June, “I can’t see any reason for having as large an inventory as we are allowed to have under New START, in terms of real threat, potential threat. The more weapons that exist out there, the less secure we are rather than the more secure we are.”

Like Levin, I favor more security and fewer nuclear weapons. American leadership must take action to minimize nuclear dangers. Our nation should lead by example, first urging further reciprocal Russian nuclear reductions, then engaging other nuclear weapons countries to make reductions. We also should ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to permanently end nuclear testing worldwide. Taking these steps will position the U.S. to effectively lead the world in thwarting new nuclear weapons development and combating nuclear terrorism.

We ushered in the nuclear era 67 years ago. Now we must do our part to help the world find a safe exit.

(Sandy Pappas, a state senator from Minnesota, is a founding member with her husband, Neal Gosman, of the Shir Tikvah congregation in the Twin Cities.)