Report back from Capitol Hill: 2013 Congressional Appeal
The last week of July was an exciting time in Washington DC. Activists demanding comprehensive immigration reform were risking arrest. Congress was finishing up their summer session. And the Peace Economy Project was on Capitol Hill ensuring that voices speaking out against excessive Pentagon bloat were heard.
Congressional Lobby Intern Ricky Shah and I headed out to DC with a list of meetings and a pile of signatures, 412 in total, to be delivered to 75 different Congressional offices. We had meetings with legislative aides from the offices of Missouri Representatives Lacy Clay, Ann Wagner, Jason Smith, Blaine Luetkemeyer, and Emanuel Cleaver. We also met with an aide from Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis’s office, and aides from Senator Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt’s offices.
Upon arriving on Capitol Hill, we were met with a familiar face, former PEP director and Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) lobbyist, Tila Neguse. She was able to help us prepare for our meetings, as well as come to some of our conversations with legislatures. Together we pitched our appeal to Congress, the dire need to cut the Pentagon and reinvest in human needs.
Many of our conversations were frustrating endeavors. Erik Rust, the aide from Ann Wagner’s office, spoke of weapons like the F-35 being the vision of the future, while Medicare could be cut down. These sentiments were troubling to us, but we were able to share with them our vision of a peace economy.
The history of St. Louis and the work done by the St. Louis Economic Conversion Project proved to be a powerful point in our conversations, especially in Congressman Leutkemeyer’s office. His aide, Chris Brown, seemed hesitant to get on board with Pentagon cuts because union members from Boeing had visited to express concern about job loss. We were able to share how our organization historically had re-employed many McDonnell Douglas workers laid off in the 90s.
Not all of our meetings were a struggle. Always an ally, Lacy Clay’s aide Richard Pecantte told us to be in contact with proposals for budget cuts to the Pentagon. On the other side of the state, Emanuel Cleaver was standing with fast food workers on strike while we spoke to Breanna Cameron about how he had worked to save SNAP benefits. We all agreed that the F-35 was a serious problem and in need of facing cuts if not all out defunding.
Coming out of these meetings, PEP is focused on continuing to educate our Congress about the need to rein in military spending so we can re-invest that money into our communities. We will also be reminding everyone how in the 90s we brought new industry to St. Louis to replace defense jobs, and that with similar planning, we can do it again and create industries that work for us here at home.
We are especially eager to continue conversations with Senator McCaskill’s office after hearing from her correspondence coordinator, Hannah Green, that the Senator was willing to work to end sequester. A member of the Armed Service Committee, she has a powerful voice that has already begun to call out the military on wasteful spending for its building of a $34 million base in Afghanistan that will never be used. We feel she can do much more, and plan to educate her office on other areas of waste.
To help us with our continued conversations, Tila plans to come back to St. Louis this fall for further in-district visits and letter writing events. Be on the look out for a call to join us in our Congressional representatives’ offices to educate them on how the military budget has stolen resources from our much needed programs here at home.
Thank you for all of your support with this important trip to Washington, DC, and for all of PEP’s endeavors.
Sincerely,
Jasmin Maurer
Executive Director
