A report on the lobby visits with an aide to Senator Van Hollen
and an aide to Senator Cardin
On
March 7, four members of Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland traveled from Baltimore
to meet with Paul Warnke, a Nuclear Security Working Group Fellow for Senator
Chris Van Hollen, at the D.C. office. While Warnke said he would meet
with us for 30 minutes, the meeting was closer to 25 minutes long. Van
Hollen is to be congratulated for his constituent services, as my emails
supporting or arguing against legislation almost always get a response from his
staff. It was a real pleasure to meet with Paul as he was very
knowledgeable about the issues we raised.
Paul Warnke garnered a master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism
Studies at the Middlebury Institute. The Middlebury Institute is affiliated
with Middlebury College in Vermont, but located in Monterey, CA. After
graduation, he is one of nine members of the 2019 congressional nuclear
security fellow program. The nine are placed in both the Senate and the
House serving with Democrats and Republicans. The Nuclear Security
Working Group Fellowship Program is made by possible by funding from the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. I believe he is the grandson
of Paul Warnke, who came out against the Vietnam War and was a nuclear weapons
negotiator involved in nuclear arms reduction treaties.
Sen.
Van Hollen was thanked for voting in favor of S.J. Res. 7, the War Powers Act
which calls for the U.S. military to end its involvement in the Saudi-U.A.E.
terror war on the people of Yemen. We then asked for an answer to the
difference between the Senate and House resolutions and when will the
differences be resolved.
We
asked Van Hollen to co-sponsor S.272 - A bill to establish the policy of the
United States regarding the no-first-use of nuclear weapons; and thanked him
for co-sponsoring S. 200- Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2019;
S.312 - Prevention of Arms Race Act of 2019; and S.401 - A bill to prohibit the
research and development, production, and deployment of the Trident D5
low-yield nuclear warhead, and for other purposes. He was asked to sign
the ICAN Parliamentarian Pledge to support the Ban Treaty. Two members of
Congress, Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) have signed
the Parliamentary Pledge.
We
also informed the staffer about Back from the Brink, and how Baltimore was the
first major city to pass a supporting resolution. Since then other
cities, including the District of Columbia, and the State of California have
also joined in with resolutions. It is hoped that Van Hollen would
co-sponsor a Back From the Brink resolution
We
pointed out that some 60% of the federal discretionary budget goes to war
making, and thus funding for housing, education, environmental protections,
drug treatment and infrastructure is short-changed. Wasting so much money
on wars and the enhancement of the nuclear weapons arsenal has caused the USA
to be ranked well below so many nations on different indices, according to Lawrence
Wittner in the December 29, 2018 in Z Magazine—“The United States is First in
War, But Trailing in Crucial Aspects of Modern Civilization.“ This is but one
example in the article: “Despite the fact that the United States is the world’s
richest nation, it also has an unusually high level of poverty. According
to a 2017 UNICEF report, over 29 percent of American children live in impoverished
circumstances, placing the United States 35th in childhood poverty among
the 41 richest nations. Indeed, the United States has a higher
percentage of its people living in poverty (15.1 percent) than 41 other
countries, including Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Sri Lanka.”
As the
meeting was breaking up, we mentioned our concern about the Trump
administration’s plan to change the government in Venezuela. Paul
mentioned that Mike Pompeo said all options are on the table. The staffer
concluded from this comment that even the use of nuclear weapons would be
considered. This is madness, but who can guess how far Trump will
go to take out Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela.
I
indicated I would be contacting Paul in in about a week to obtain answers to
our asks and our questions. He suggested in two weeks. Let me know if you have
any comments or questions.
________________________
On
March 19, five members of Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland traveled from Baltimore
to meet with Katherine Kitty Close, a Legislative Correspondent for Senator Ben
Cardin, at the D.C. office. Once we sat down, Kitty told us we had 15
minutes, which was an insult. This seems to be typical of Cardin’s lack
of constituent services. I actually get responses from Senator Van
Hollen’s staff when I send in an email supporting or arguing against
legislation. My Inbox does not get any responses from Cardin’s office
when I send an email about legislation. And Cardin has sponsored
anti-First Amendment legislation in an attempt to deter us from supporting
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel because of its illegal
occupation of the Palestinians.
We
tried our best to get our asks presented to Ms. Close as quickly as
possible. It became obvious that someone in Cardin’s office decided to
have a very inexperienced staff member with limited knowledge of the issues to
meet with us. It could be assumed that our issues were of little interest
to Sen. Cardin. We wanted Cardin to co-sponsor S. 200- Restricting First
Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2019; S.272 - A bill to establish the policy of
the United States regarding the no-first-use of nuclear weapons; S.312 -
Prevention of Arms Race Act of 2019; and S.401 - A bill to prohibit the
research and development, production, and deployment of the Trident D5
low-yield nuclear warhead, and for other purposes. He has failed to engage in
any anti-nuclear weapons issues.
Of
course, he will not sign the ICAN Parliamentarian Pledge to support the Ban
Treaty. But he was asked to do it. Now five members of
Congress--Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rep.
Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)
have signed the Parliamentary Pledge.
Sen.
Cardin was thanked for voting in favor of S.J. Res. 7, the War Powers Act which
would call for the U.S. military to end its involvement in the Saudi-U.A.E.
terror war on the people of Yemen. We then asked for an answer to the
difference between the Senate and House resolutions and when will the
differences be resolved.
We
also informed the staffer about Back from the Brink, and how Baltimore was the
first major city to pass a supporting resolution. Since then other
cities, including the District of Columbia, and the State of California have
also joined in with resolutions.
It
was pointed out that Cardin has stated “I believe in a strong national
defense.” This statement is such a disappointment as some 60% of the
federal discretionary budget goes to war making, and thus funding for housing,
education, environmental protections, drug treatment and infrastructure is
short-changed. Wasting so much money on wars and the enhancement of the
nuclear weapons arsenal has caused the USA to be ranked well below so many
nations on different indices, according to Lawrence Wittner in the December 29,
2018 in Z Magazine—“The United States is First in War, But Trailing in Crucial
Aspects of Modern Civilization.“ This is but one example in the article: “Not
surprisingly, American health is relatively poor. The infant
mortality rate in the United States is higher than in 54 other lands,
including Belarus, Cuba, Greece, and French Polynesia. According to the
World Cancer Research Fund, the United States has the 5th highest
cancer rate of the 50 countries it studied. For the past few years,
as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported, U.S.
life expectancy has been declining and, today, the United States
reportedly ranks 53rd among 100 nations in life expectancy.”
We
then brought up that it was our understanding that Cardin will not co-sponsor
legislation unless Republicans have signed on. Kitty claimed this was not
true, but did not provide any examples where Cardin pushed legislation backed only
by Democrats. There are several examples
of Cardin working across the aisle. Here is one: on March 14, 2019, Cardin,
Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Jobs Act to Help Workers Access Training for
In-Demand Career Fields. These examples, however, do not include any
significant legislation.
Finally,
we brought up the Trump administration’s plan to change the government in
Venezuela, and asked what is Ben’s position. She got a bit feisty hinting
that Cardin would not be upset if Maduro was replaced. This was in THE
WASHINGTON POST on February 23, 2019: “Democratic leadership has voiced support
for Guaido as interim president: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) put out a
statement earlier this month, and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said Saturday,
“I think at this point the Trump administration handled this properly,” though
he did go on to caution against the use of military force.” It is awful
that a senator from Maryland would support the Trump policy of regime change.
I indicated I would be contacting Ms. Close in about a week to obtain answers
to our asks and our questions. Let me know if you have any comments or
questions. Also note we are exploring options of meeting with a higher-level
member of Cardin’s staff.
Kagiso,
Max
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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