FCNL General Committee Defines Priorities for the 110th Congress
For immediate release - November 15, 2006
More than 200 Quakers from about 40 states gathered in Washington, DC in early November to approve the legislative priorities for the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) for the 110th Congress. The meeting from November 9-12 is the annual gathering of the Quaker lobby’s General Committee, made up of Quakers appointed by 26 yearly meetings (regional bodies) and several dozen individual Friends chosen because they are particularly active on lobbying issues.
Friends meetings and churches participated in the priorities setting process this year by convening special sessions to discuss the issues that were most important to them. Their input was critical to establishing the priorities document that the General Committee approved on November 12.
The final priorities document defines the core work of the staff and FCNL’s network around the country for the next two years. Following guidelines set by the organization’s mission statement, FCNL will work to persuade Congress to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, restore and assure full civil liberties and human rights to all persons in the United States, reduce military spending, promote global security through active diplomacy, and take steps to protect the environment and reduce energy consumption.
“You are force multipliers for peace,” explained one congressional staff member who addressed the group. Participants discussed the impact of the 2006 congressional elections on FCNL’s work in the next year, reviewed successes in lobbying work in the last year, and exchanged ideas about how to bring new voices into lobbying work on Capitol Hill. FCNL awarded the Edward F. Snyder Award for National Legislative Leadership in Advancing Disarmament and Building Peace to Senator Joe Biden for sponsoring successful legislation that bars the U.S. from spending money to establish permanent military bases in Iraq.
In one session, General Committee members met with others from neighboring states and communities to identify churches, organizations, and individuals that might engage in FCNL’s work. Workshops on presenting FCNL in local communities, lobbying, and engaging the media added to this effort. On Thursday, before the annual meeting began, thirty-five people from more than a dozen states joined a pre-meeting lobby day on the war in Iraq that included a training at the FCNL office followed by visits with staff in 18 different congressional offices.
Excerpts from the speeches, talks, and workshops at the annual meeting will be posted on the FCNL website in the next week.
FCNL’s full legislative priorities document is available on the web.
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The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL works with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from every state in the U.S. to advocate for social and economic justice, peace, and good government. For more information: http://www.fcnl.org
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