The Foreign Operations Bill, S. 1234, is now scheduled for a vote in the Senate this coming Monday, 6/19, and the current version still includes the Colombia military and other drug war aid that DRCNet and a range of organizations have been opposing.
Sources in the Latin America field tell us that at least one and perhaps two amendments will be offered on the Senate floor that would reduce the negative impact of the bill in its current form. Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) is offering an amendment that would transfer the military funding into domestic treatment programs. It is anticipated that Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA) will offer an amendment to simply cut the funding.
Please call your two Senators and ask them to oppose the counternarcotics funding that is included in the Foreign Operations Bill. You can reach them by visiting our Colombia web site at http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ and writing down the phone numbers that our system will provide as you use it to send your Senators e-mail or faxes -- or, you can call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be transferred. (You'll need to make two calls to the switchboard, one for each.) Or, you can find your Senator's web site at http://www.senate.gov and look up their local phone numbers in your state and call them there. PLEASE ALSO USE THE TELL-A-FRIEND FORM AT http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ TO LET AS MANY PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THIS IMMINENT VOTE AS YOU CAN.
Stay tuned for further updates on this issue.
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