rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (06/13/91)
/** fcnl.updates: 8.0 **/ ** Topic: Hotline for June 7, 1991 ** ** Written 5:22 pm Jun 7, 1991 by sncrom in cdp:fcnl.updates ** FCNL TELEPHONE TAPE - 6/7/91 This is the Friends Committee on National Legislation, with updated legislative information. To speak with a staff member, call (202) 547-6000. This message was prepared at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 7. It contains information and action suggestions on the following subjects: CIVIL RIGHTS, HOUSING APPROPRIATIONS, CRIME BILL, FOREIGN AID, and ARMS TRANSFERS TO THE MIDDLE EAST. CIVIL RIGHTS: On June 5, the House passed the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (H.R. 1) by a vote of 273 to 158. The vote fell slightly short of the 290 majority vote needed to override the expected presidential veto. Members of the Senate are presently working on several compromise bills which might result in passage of civil rights legislation this summer. ACTION: Be sure to THANK your representative if he or she voted in favor of H.R. 1. Urge all representatives to prepare to override a presidential veto if necessary. Write or call both your senators, asking them to support the strongest civil rights legislation introduced in the Senate. HOUSING AND NASA (the space agency): Bowing to intense pressure from the President and the aerospace industry, the full House overturned a significant decision by the appropriations committee. The House restored funds for NASA's manned space station, which will eventually cost $40 billion. As a result, spending for all other scientific and space programs will be frozen in 1992, AND $217 million was CUT from federal housing subsidies -- including cuts in Indian housing. Now the Senate faces the same decision: where to spend limited funds for domestic programs -- on space exploration or on housing. ACTION: Contact your senators and urge them to vote in favor of America's future by investing in affordable housing for all. CRIME BILL: This year's crime bill, offered by the Bush administration, includes an ALIEN TERRORIST REMOVAL ACT. It would apply to any person who is not a citizen of this country, and who is ACCUSED of supporting a terrorist organization. Anyone so accused could be deported or "removed" from the country without knowing the charges brought against him or her, without seeing the evidence, or without knowing the source of any accusations. The Justice Department and a judge would handle the case in secret; if the judge decided that the evidence was sufficient, the person would be summarily removed from the country. Despite the fact that these measures threaten some of our most fundamental fair judicial procedures, few senators may be willing to oppose a vote supposedly "against terrorism." ACTION: Urge your senators to oppose strongly the alien terrorist provisions if they are offered as an amendment to the crime bill. FOREIGN AID: Soon, the House Appropriations Committee will make recommendations on the size and shape of the U.S. foreign aid program. The administration has requested a program that is half security aid and half economic aid. In this post-cold war era, this is unacceptable. ACTION: Urge your representative to contact members of the House Appropriations Committee and advocate support for the cuts in security aid and increases in development aid that were made by the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. ARMS TRANSFERS TO THE MIDDLE EAST: Action is expected in both houses. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: The House will debate and vote on the Foreign Aid Authorization bill next week. An important provision in this bill calls for an indefinite halt in U.S. arms transfers to the Middle East. Some representatives may attempt to remove this from the Foreign Aid bill. ACTION: Please contact your representative by Wednesday, June 12, and ask him or her to do the following: (1) Support amendments to the Foreign Aid bill that call for an immediate U.S. halt to arms transfers for the Middle East; (2) Challenge the administration's plans to sell $500 million worth of Apache helicopters to the United Arab Emirates, which were announced only days after the President introduced a new arms control plan; (3) Call on President Bush to personally attend the arms control conference in Paris that he has proposed, and ask him to call for a Middle East arms embargo that includes conventional weapons. IN THE SENATE: Senators Kerry MA and Brown CO have introduced an amendment to the State Department Authorization bill that calls for an indefinite arms moratorium to the Middle East. This arms control language is already included in the bill, but could be taken out when the Foreign Relations committee acts on the bill next week. ACTION: Contact your Senators, especially if they are on the Foreign Relations committee, and urge them to support an arms moratorium to the Middle East by voting for the Kerry-Brown amendment to the State Department Authorization bill. This concludes our message. For more information, please write to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, 245 Second St., NE, Washington, DC 20002. ** End of text from cdp:fcnl.updates **