Our Peace & Justice Action Committee (PJAC) continues to meet via zoom on the first Thursday of each month. This committee is a tiny, mighty group of members committed to ending militarism and advancing peace who would love to have you join our efforts!
For the past two years, our committee has joined with other folks to form the Spokane Advocacy Team which is part of the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s (FCNL) Advocacy Team Network. This network of 130 teams across the country is building relationships with members of congress with a focus on a specific policy and unified message to strategically increase our impact.
Our partnership with FCNL as part of the Advocacy Team Network has amplified our voices and strengthened the work PJAC members had already been doing to repeal the AUMF. We also appreciate FCNL has begun to intentionally call out racism in US militarism and kicked off their new program at our conference with their workshop on Challenging racism in U.S. foreign policy through grassroots advocacy. It has been a challenge within the peace movement to find partners who are also committed to connecting the dots between US state sanctioned violence against black and brown bodies nationally and internationally.
The focus for this year has been continuing efforts to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) which has allowed past and present administrations to take military action without congressional approval. We are so close to a win…a vote may be happening as you read this! Repeal of the 2002 AUMF has passed the full House and the Senate Committee. We are still waiting for a Senate floor vote. Sen Schumer has stated that it will come up for a vote before the end of the year. The Senate bill has 42 cosponsors including 10 Republicans and we anticipate more than 60 yes votes when it is brought to the floor. Legislative victories are few and far between when fighting the military industrial complex and we look forward to celebrating after years of dedicated efforts and action by this amazing committee.
As a result of Advocacy Teams efforts, including our committee members, across the state continuing to bring that ask to meetings with her staff, Senator Murray signed on as a cosponsor. Senator Cantwell is in support of repeal and our committee recently met with her Seattle and DC staff urging her to also co-sign this legislation.
If you are interested in joining this powerful committee, please email Jac at [email protected] to join our committee specific email list.