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Oregon passes House Joint Memorial on Iraq

State Representative District 5 Peter Buckley, 22.03.2007 12:29

On Tuesday of this week, I voted on the behalf of the people of our district to insist that Congress act to end our country’s occupation of Iraq. The vote was 33 to 25 to approve. The text of House Joint Memorial 9, which I co- sponsored with many of my colleagues in the Oregon House, can be found below.

We have paid and we continue to pay a terrible price for what I believe to be an unnecessary and immoral war. I’m grateful that my colleagues have joined in the effort to send Oregon’s message to Washington, DC, and I stand with my colleagues in our determination to do everything in our power to care for the women and men who have fought this war when they are at long last returned to us.

Thanks & Onward,
Rep. Peter Buckley
email: rep.peterbuckley@state.or.us
phone: (541) 488-9180
web: http://www.leg.state.or.us/buckley

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

Thanks Peter!!!

74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session

NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .

LC 3648

House Joint Memorial 9

Sponsored by Representatives SHIELDS, HOLVEY, ROSENBAUM, Senator
GORDLY; Representatives BARNHART, BONAMICI, BOONE, BUCKLEY,
CANNON, COWAN, DINGFELDER, D EDWARDS, GALIZIO, GELSER,
GREENLICK, HUNT, KOMP, KOTEK, NATHANSON, RILEY, ROBLAN, TOMEI,
WITT, Senators MONROE, WALKER

SUMMARY

The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.

Urges President of United States not to increase numbers of
troops in Iraq. Calls on Congress to pass legislation prohibiting
President from increasing numbers of troops without Congressional
approval. Calls on President and Congress to withdraw troops from
Iraq and redeploy troops not later than August 1, 2007.

JOINT MEMORIAL
To the President of the United States and the Senate and the
House of Representatives of the United States of America, in
Congress assembled:
We, your memorialists, the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
Whereas hundreds of thousands of members of the Armed Forces of
the United States, including those in the National Guard and
Reserves, have served with honor and distinction during our
nation's involvement in Iraq; and
Whereas the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly supports the
men and women deployed in Iraq and honors the memory of those who
have lost their lives in service to our state and country; and
Whereas our nation's involvement in Iraq has cost the lives of
more than 3,000 U.S. soldiers, of whom 79 are Oregonians, and has
inflicted combat wounds and injuries, psychic trauma and other
disabilities on more than 22,000 others; and
Whereas our nation's involvement in Iraq has already caused
Oregonians and those in other states to suffer disrupted family
lives, financial hardships for individuals, families and
businesses, interrupted careers and damage to the fabric of civic
life in our communities; and
Whereas Congress has appropriated more than $357 billion to
date to fund military operations and reconstruction in Iraq,
money that could have funded desperately needed education, health
care, housing, nutrition and other social services in communities
in the United States or humanitarian assistance abroad; and
Whereas the military occupation of Iraq has severely strained
the capacities of the Armed Forces of the United States, the
Oregon National Guard and the Reserves; and
Whereas the President of the United States has proposed an
escalation in the number of United States troops deployed in
Iraq; and
Whereas the proposed escalation in the number of troops
committed to Iraq will extend tours of duty for Oregon National
Guard members and members of the National Guard in other states,
thereby adding to the costs that individuals and communities in
Oregon and other states have already incurred; and
Whereas the vast majority of Americans do not support
increasing the number of troops in Iraq; and
Whereas most military experts oppose escalation in Iraq and
press reports indicate that even the Joint Chiefs of Staff have
opposed this strategy; and
Whereas legal experts have recognized that Congress has both
broad authority and a long tradition of limiting expansions of
United States military commitments and forcing redeployments of
United States armed forces by exercising the power of the purse
granted to Congress in the United States Constitution; now,
therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
Oregon:
That we, the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly, on behalf of
the citizens of Oregon, urge the President to refrain from
escalating United States involvement in Iraq at a time when the
Iraq Study Group, leading military and diplomatic officials and
allies around the world are calling for the United States to
reduce the number of troops in Iraq and to withdraw from
operations; and be it further
Resolved, That we, the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly,
call on Congress not to approve this announced increase in the
number of troops deployed in Iraq, but instead to pass
legislation that prohibits the President from spending more
taxpayer dollars on such an escalation until such time as the
President obtains Congressional approval for the escalation; and
be it further
Resolved, That we, the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly,
urge the President, at a minimum, to obtain explicit approval
from Congress before sending more American troops to Iraq; and be
it further
Resolved, That we, the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly,
call on Congress and the President to announce an expedient plan
for the redeployment of the Armed Forces of the United States
from Iraq, to begin handing over military operations for the
security of Iraq to the elected government of Iraq and to begin
withdrawing United States forces from Iraq and redeploying those
forces as soon as possible, but not later than August 1, 2007;
and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this memorial shall be sent to the
President of the United States, to the Senate Majority Leader, to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to each member of
the Oregon Congressional Delegation.
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Oregon passes House Joint Memorial on Iraq