This week, I went on congressional office visits in DC with six other people from North Carolina. Four of those individuals were college students at Eastern Carolina University. One of those students was an Iraq War veteran. The information below is an answer to the survey that UFPJ asked us to fill out. I am listing the questions first, and then the answers by Representative. I did not make it to the visits to Senator Dole or Senator Burr’s office. I did visit them later in the day to express my views. (As a matter of fact, I walked into every US Senators office and gave them a paper that was a follow up to lobbying I did last September, and I told them how I think the Bush Administration, the US Congress and US Senate are the most immoral and shameful of my entire 50-year life.)
Here is a quick summary:
HOPELESS: Taylor, Myrick, Jones
GREAT: Watt
POTENTIAL: Butterfield, Miller, Price
Questions:
1. Members of delegation
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to?
3. What is your main ask on Iraq?
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person?
5. What areas of agreement did you find?
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it?
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran?
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response?
9. General reactions, impressions from visit.
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit?
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting?
12. Additional comments
Rep. JONES
1. Members of delegation - Present: Hsin, Jacek, Jill, Chris, Susan
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to? He has signed on to the discharge petition.
3. What is your main ask on Iraq? The students from ECU wanted to build an alliance with ECU Peace & Justice.
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person?
It seemed this staff member (Dan Hilton) was somewhat antagonistic to the students. Hilton claimed that Jones came out before anyone to pull troops out of Iraq and Jacek said that Jones was two years too late in his announcement.
5. What areas of agreement did you find? The Representative is in agreement with us that the troops need to come home, but the staff member showed no indication that they wanted to work together on this issue.
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it?
Discharge petition. Not sure what could be done to get him to sign on to this.
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran?
Hilton does not think that the US intends to invade Iran. He is not in favor of invasion or military force against Iran. Jones looks to Rep. Ron Paul on Iran issues. Jones wrote to Speaker about full house meeting over Iran to brief congress. There has been one briefing so far for members.
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response? Not discussed. (I had to leave early for another appointment.)
9. General reactions, impressions from visit. There was some confusion over the appointment, the staff said before hand that they were on our side but they did not seem very welcoming.
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit? I will write a thank you note. No further follow up planned that I know about. (I left early because of another appointment.)
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting? Not sure
12. Additional comments – Mr. Hilton said Cindy Sheehan was manipulated by various groups. I informed him that she was a willing participant. I have emailed Cindy and suggested she call Dan Hilton and express her views.
Rep. TAYLOR
1. Members of delegation present: Susan and Andy
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to? NONE
3. What is your main ask on Iraq? To sign discharge petition
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person?
James Thomas (staff person) feels there already is a discussion on Iraq going on all the time, and sees the discharge petition as a partisan political ploy. Congress will not set a date for troops to come home, and he later said that we will not have total troop withdrawal EVER – but he already sees troops from Iraq starting to come home. Feels troops will come home when Iraq is self-sufficient and able to provide for their own security, and feels they are starting to achieve that objective.
5. What areas of agreement did you find? "everyone wants the troops to come home" – it is just that they have no plans to push for this (Taylor has a son who served in Iraq, and the aide said in Fallujah, but I heard in the Green Zone back in the district. It has also been reported that Taylor said that “sometimes you have to fight for the oil” at a town hall meeting – I was not there.)
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it?
NONE
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran?
Members have not debated Iran, says it will go before UN Security Council; feels there should be sanctions on Iran’s nuclear weapons (which Iran does not have).
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response? Just said that Iraqis were better off without Saddam
9. General reactions, impressions from visit. Hostile
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit? I will write a thank you note.
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting? No
12. Additional comments - He did agree that there was no nuclear WMDs found in Iraq. (And this is an improvement over statements by other staff members earlier this year.)
Rep. MILLER
1. Members of delegation - UFPJ members there: Susan, Andy, Dan
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to? 543, 197,3142,184,70,515 (go to UFPJ website for information on these bills)
3. What is your main ask on Iraq? Out of Iraq petitions
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person?
Talked to Doug Taggart, who is a vet himself, and has a son in law in Baghdad now. The Iraq war is very much on his mind. He is a legislative fellow.
5. What areas of agreement did you find? He agreed (and said Miller agreed) that we need to have a signed discharge petition and that we need to signal the Iraqi people that we do intend to leave.
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it?
He already supports a lot of legislation in this area.
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran?
Said Miller was concerned about Iran and nuclear weapons- and he will inform him about our positions and information.
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response? Said Miller supports investigations of why they started the war, and also of the corruption present in Iraq reconstruction.
9. General reactions, impressions from visit. Great guy, great staff, great meeting
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit? I will write a thank you note.
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting? Not sure
12. Additional comments - None
Rep. MYRICK
1. Members of delegation - UFPJ members there: Dan, Susan
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to? None
3. What is your main ask on Iraq? To move towards getting out of Iraq; get with Jones and Coble and sign discharge petition
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person? We met with E.J. Kimball, who has been with Myrick's office for two weeks. He just graduated from American University with a major in Foreign Policy and Middle East Issues. He stated that he felt the decision to go to Iraq was correct, since he claims Saddam supported suicide bombers in Israel and supported attacks on the USA. He is a big supporter of Israel. He said he favors more "economic integration" with the Middle East (not clear what that means, will try to clarify via email). I asked if he felt Iraq was a threat to the USA and he said YES. Said he did not know about US State Department reports from 1993-2003 that said that Saddam was not a threat to the USA or supporting terrorists that were targeting the USA. He said that Saddam had no documentation for all his WMDs, and he was a dictator who wanted to control the region. He was not aware that the US removed many pages from Saddam's report in December 2002 before giving it to the UN. He has not spoken with the congresswomen about Iraq. He feels that by the end of the Bush term it will either be the "light at the end of the tunnel" or in civil war. And he feels it could go either way at this point. He said that pulling out troops would embolden insurgency. Dan told him that current government of Iraq will want us to do the "heavy lifting" as long as we are in the country, and will not do this on their own, as long as US troops are there. (I am of the opinion that the current government will fall when the US leaves, no matter when that happens.) We also told him about the shame that a NC Iraq war veteran spoke of yesterday at our meeting.
5. What areas of agreement did you find? None, except that he needs to learn more.
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it?
NONE
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran?
He was aware of 391, not aware of 373. Talked about HR 282, which is Iran sanctions and called "Freedom Support Act." This is something that he supported.
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response? He said he did not know how the Representative felt about this, but he felt Saddam was a threat and had WMDs - so felt it was okay decision to go into Iraq. Stated that he did not feel that Bush lied.
9. General reactions, impressions from visit. Not good.
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit? I will write a thank you note.
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting? Yes, Dan plans to write a piece for the local paper.
12. Additional comments – This guy was thick.
Rep. PRICE
1. Members of delegation - UFPJ members there: Hsin, Susan, Dan, Jill, Andy
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to? Sponsored 70, signed discharge petition
3. What is your main ask on Iraq? To keep pushing
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person?
His aid, Tom Ross, said that Price is not willing to set a specific date to withdraw completely. Said it matters that we need to get troops out of there, just arguing over HOW to do this. He feels all the bills are various ways to get Bush and Republicans to bow to pressure.
5. What areas of agreement did you find? Many, just details on HOW to do all this was in disagreement
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it? See above.
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran? Sorry, we either did not talk about this or I failed to take notes.
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response? Sorry, I missed this also (or was not discussed).
9. General reactions, impressions from visit. Positive overall.
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit? I will write a thank you note.
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting? No
12. Additional comments – none
Rep. WATT
1. Members of delegation - UFPJ members present: Dan and Susan
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to? Meet with Laura Hooper, Legislative Assistant, and Watt has signed on to the Price-Miller bill (70) and 197.
3. What is your main ask on Iraq? Sign on to discharge petition
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person?
Laura Hooper said Watt favors quick withdrawal, not immediate withdrawal. He would like to see us leave Iraq in stable condition (hopefully). Watt was not in favor of war.
5. What areas of agreement did you find? Nearly all, especially that we should not go there in first place.
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it?
Said Watt is open to persuasion on best way to resolve situation.
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran?
Does not know position on Iran. He is not signed on, but will take a look at it.
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response? Supports this very much, has been active on pre-war intelligence and Guantanemo Bay investigations.
9. General reactions, impressions from visit. Encouraging
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit? I will write a thank you note. I will follow up with Christopher Caple, Legislation Assistant, about Watt's position on Iran in a couple of weeks.
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting? No
12. Additional comments – great staff person, we left early to get to next meeting, since we felt this office and Representative is already on the side of peace and justice.
Rep. BUTTERFIELD
1. Members of delegation - UFPJ members present: Hsin, Susan, Andy, Dan, Jill, Chris
2. What legislation/initiatives has the member already signed on to? 73,543, 515
3. What is your main ask on Iraq? To stop funding the war
4. What were the main concerns/objections voiced by the staff person?
Aid said that Butterfield feels that pulling out immediately will make things worse.
5. What areas of agreement did you find? Ryan McKee is the aid that handles military stuff. Butterfield would have voted against the war (was not in office at the time) and he supports Murtha's bill. Again said that pulling out prematurely would make it worse.
6. What legislation might the member support? What will help move them to support it?
Someone in the group asked when do you get to a point where congress says NO MORE MONEY to the Iraq war since they don't plan on leaving or withdrawing at all.
7. What did you discuss about Iran? What is the member thinking, doing about Iran?
Does not want Iran to get bombs and he is worried about that. Feels Iran and US should cooperate with UN inspections and IAEA.
8. Did you discuss the need for congressional investigations? What was the staff person’s response? Does support congressional investigations.
9. General reactions, impressions from visit. Overall, very encouraging.
10. How and when and with whom is the delegation following up after the visit? I will write a thank you note.
11. Any plans for local publicity on meeting? No
12. Additional comments – I encouraged the staff person to ask Butterfield to join Progressive Caucus.
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