The $162.5 Billion Funding Measure for the Iraq War was Voted Down in the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon, May 15, 2008

A vote of 149 AGAINST to 141 FOR, with 132 Republicans abstaining from the vote brought about the defeat of the war funding portion of a massive spending bill.

Thank you very much to all who made phone calls, sent e-mails and postcards, and made visits to your Representative in the past few weeks to let them know the will of the people: “Stop Paying for War and Occupation in Iraq!”

The anti-war movement’s efforts have paid off!

One-hundred-and-forty-nine Representatives voted with the people and for Peace in Iraq.

This is the largest number of Representatives who have voted against Iraq War funding since the March 2003 invasion.

The largest single “supplemental funding” bill for the Iraq War was defeated by a little more than a third of the House voting against.

Please thank your member of Congress if he/ she voted against further funding, and tell him/ her that you expect them to vote against war funding when the appropriations bill comes back to the House.

You can see the roll call vote for the supplemental war funding measure (Amendment 1 of HR2642) here [1].

Our attention must now focus on our Senators as the spending bill moves to the Senate where it is expected that the war funding will be put back into the bill.

Calls, e-mails, and visits to, and nonviolent actions at your Senators’ offices are needed to ensure that they understand that the people will not tolerate a continuation of this immoral war and occupation.

For more information on the war funding vote, see news from The Washington Post [2], Congressional Quarterly [3], and TheHill.com [4].

For next steps, see the Press Release from our colleagues at United for Peace and Justice [5].

Thank you for your diligent efforts. Let’s keep it up!

Timothy Baer

Campaign Coordinator, The Declaration of Peace