June 12, 2009 8:53 AM

Progressives and War Funding

There is a really interesting struggle going on in the House, where the leadership is attempting to gather the votes to provide almost $90 billion in yet another supplemental appropriation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The funding for Afghanistan is almost entirely for military options - the newest version of the surge - and very little for the humanitarian and civil society efforts that have been neglected for years.

All progressives need to do to block this unbalanced and unwinnable approach is to vote No. That alone will force the Administration to enter into a discussion with progressives about a better path. After all, this is what progressive members of the House were elected to do!

If you live in a district with a progressive representative, today would be a critical day to call or email them in both D.C. and their district office and ask them to vote no until they are satisfied both with an exit strategy and a change in the mix of humanitarian and military spending.