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For Immediate Release
April, 14 2011, 09:04am EDT
Contact:
Martha de Hoyos martha@bravenewfoundation.org
On Eve of Tax Day, Republican and Democratic Congressmembers Rally Against America's Hard Earned Income Going to Fund the War in Afghanistan; Veterans, Other Groups to Join
Thousands of Americans Send IOUs to Washington DC Protesting the Outrageous Sums of Income Going Towards the War in Afghanistan; IOUS Part of Rethink Afghanistan Campaign
WASHINGTON
What: April 14 Press Conference
A bipartisan group of Members of Congress will be discussing the thousands of IOUs they have received from constituents on the war in Afghanistan and the escalating costs of the war to the American tax pay payer. Members of congress will be accompanied by participating organizations and veterans. This press event in reaction to Rethink Afghanistan's IOU campaign (www.RethinkAfghanistan.com). Rethink Afghanistan is a project of Brave New Foundation.
Who: Members of Congress includes:
- Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.)
- Walter Jones (R-N.C.),
- John Conyers (D-Mich.),
- Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.)
- Mike Honda (D-Calif.),
- Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas),
- Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and
- James McGovern (D-Mass.)
- Others TBD
Organizations and veterans attending include:
- Jim Wallis, (Sojourners)
- Matthew Hoh (Afghanistan Study Group),
- Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (Center for Advanced Defense Studies),
- Michael Ostrolenk (Liberty Coalition),
- Jacob Diliberto (Veterans for Rethinking Afghanistan), and
- Bruce Fein, Author and Columnist
When: Thursday, April 14, from 2:30-3pm.
Where: 441 Cannon House Office Building
Online Action: Rethink Afghanistan's new Afghanistan War Tax Calculator (www.RethinkAfghanistan.com) lets users see the impact of the Afghanistan War and other out-of-control military spending on their pocketbooks. Users can enter the amount of income they earned this year and receive an "I.O.U." for the amount of their income taxes that get spent on war. The tool lets them forward their I.O.U. to Congress, urging representatives to rethink the excessive levels of war spending on the Afghanistan conflict and other ventures that are wrecking our federal budget. More than 60,000 people have used the calculator to date.
Background:
Tax Day is just around the corner (April 18), and the costs to the taxpayer from the Afghanistan War have never been higher. Total direct costs just for 2011 alone are expected to exceed $107 billion.
Rethink Afghanistan, together with a variety of other groups and elected officials from across the ideological spectrum (see below) is working to focus Americans' attention on excessive military spending on Afghanistan and other ventures and to put them in touch with their representatives in Congress.
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