Update: this action, now closed, ran in May 2015.
Recently we asked you to call your
Representative and urge them to sign a pro-diplomacy letter being circulated
by Representatives Schakowsky (D-IL), Doggett (D-TX), and Price (D-NC) among Democrats in the House. Thousands of
you responded – and your representatives took notice!
In the end, 151 House Democrats signed this letter to President Obama asking him to stay on course, build on the
recently announced political framework and continue to work toward a strong and verifiable agreement between the
P5+1 countries and Iran that will prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon.
This would be a huge success for any pro-peace, pro-diplomacy letter. It is an even more significant success today,
given the degree to which the debate in Congress has been dominated by voices opposing diplomacy and seeking to
undermine or block an agreement. While in no way committing its signers to any specific position with respect to a
final deal, nonetheless this letter signals that there may well be sufficient support for a deal in Congress to
sustain a presidential veto of diplomacy-killing legislation.
A full list of the letter’s signers (and non-signers) is below (only Democrats; Republicans were not asked to
sign). You can check it to see if your representative is on either list.
If they are, we need you to take one more action:
If your member is
one of the 151 members of Congress who signed the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter, click here to thank them for
doing the right thing.
If your member is
one of the 47 Democrats who did NOT sign the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter, click here to send them a message
letting them know that you, as a constituent, are frustrated and disappointed in them.
Please act now. Opponents of diplomacy and an achievable Iran nuclear agreement are not giving up. They have for
more than two years been working to kill talks and undermine an agreement; their efforts will only intensify as the
June 30 deadline for talks approaches. Members of Congress need to know that their constituents, Americans who care
both about U.S. interests and Israel, support diplomacy and an agreement - and want them to do the same.
Sincerely,
Lara Friedman
Director of Policy and Government Relations
Americans for Peace Now
P.S. Few would have predicted that the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter would attract so many signers. The fact that
it did so is in large part a testament to the energetic grassroots activism mobilized in support of the letter.
Indeed, the success of the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter demonstrates how important it is that members of
Congress hear from you – now and in the future. Never doubt for a minute that your opinion matters to your elected
officials, whether with respect to Iran, or Israel-Palestine, or any other issue.
This is another in a series of reviews of new books on Middle
Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review Yossi
Alpher's new book about Israel's relations with Middle Eastern peripheral states and groups.
