amituvh01: Open thread for night owls: Says McGovern?5 hours to debate NPR, 5 minutes to debate Afghanistan

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Open thread for night owls: Says McGovern?5 hours to debate NPR, 5 minutes to debate Afghanistan

Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-03) tweeted tonight: "The GOP debates defunding NPR for hours, but limits debate on Afghanistan to 5 minutes."

That "debate" will happen Thursday when the House takes up the Afghanistan Exit and Accountability Act. Sponsored by McGovern and Walter Jones (NC-03), if passed, the amendment would require:

? A plan and time-frame on accelerated transition of military operations to Afghan authorities;

? A plan and time-frame on negotiations leading to a political solution and reconciliation in Afghanistan; and

? A new National Intelligence Estimate on al Qaeda.

As Robert Greenwald writes:

The McGovern/Jones amendment won?t end the war by itself, but it?s a necessary first step to reining in a war policy that up to this point has utterly failed to deliver on the promises of its backers to the American people. Supporters of Rethink Afghanistan and other organizations are urging Congress to pass this amendment this week, and the vote may happen as early as today. If you want the war to end, please use our petition to send a note to your representative immediately.
This weekend, many Americans will mark Memorial Day at barbecues or other patriotic events, but thousands of families will spend the day dealing with the heartbreaking absence of a loved one. Others will spend the day like they spent every day for the last decade: hoping there?s not a phone call or a knock at the door to tell them their deployed family member won?t be coming home.

This should be the last Memorial Day we put military families through this agony for a war that?s not making us safer.

Not much time between now and the vote. But there's enough for you to get on the phone early in the morning and urge your Congressperson to say "aye" on McGovern-Jones. You can remind him or her that it's a bipartisan amendment.

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At Daily Kos on this date in 2005:

Sen. Brownback (R-KS) [flip-flopping] on judicial filibusters:
But should no deal emerge to break the stalemate, the region's other Republican senators, Kit Bond and Jim Talent of Missouri, and Sam Brownback of Kansas all said they would back Frist [...]
Brownback pointed out that "we've been hung up now four years" on several of the nominees.

"There's no sign of it ending," Brownback said. "We're kind of at the end of the string. I don't know what else we can do" other than change the rules.

Brownback on stem cell research:

"We're going to do everything we can to stop it," said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. He vowed to mount a filibuster, which allows a minority of senators to block a vote on the measure.

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