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Action Alerts

UUs for Social Justice has an Action Alert Network, currently consisting of about 85 individuals. Some receive Action Alerts and sample letters by e-mail. Other individuals receive background and sample messages by ground mail. Still other individuals, who support what we do but find they do not have the time to act timely, sign up to have our sample messages sent with their merged signature and address without needing to take action themself. Those individuals receive a copy of the sample message that was sent automatically. You can start the process of signing up to participate in the network by sending an e-mail request to: uusj@sbcglobal.net or leaving a message in the UUSJ box at 773-643-8061. Action Alerts currently applicable will be posted below:

The UUSJ Environmental Task Force has initiated (March 12, 2010) an action alert in support of a package of bills in the IL General Assembly which are designed to encourage adaption of solar power in our state.

Our Peace Task Force has initiated (Feb. 2010) the following Action Alert, intended to be sent to Senator Burris by those living in Illinois, to Senator Bayh by those living in Indiana and to those Senators in other states that have not joined in cosponsoring this bipartisan legislation, which has the support of 23 cosponsors and is now up for consideration on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Senator Roland W. Burris

523 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Burris,

I writing to urge you to join in sponsoring, or at least committing to support, S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. This legislation, which was initiated and shaped by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been cosponsored by 23 Senators, both Democrats and Republicans, including Senator Durbin. It was favorably reported out of the Foreign Relations Committee on February 2, 2010, by a vote of 15 to 3.

S. 1524 strengthens U.S. foreign assistance efforts in three areas: rebuilding policy and strategic planning capacity at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); increasing accountability and transparency of U.S. foreign assistance programs across all government departments and agencies; and strengthening personnel and human resources at USAID.

The Foreign Relations Committee believes it is important to begin creating a legislative framework for foreign aid reform, that would divide into two parts: 1) more immediate, shorter-term reforms designed to address existing deficiencies, and 2) broader, structural reforms intended to bring about more fundamental change to U.S. foreign assistance and development programs.

S. 1524 is the culmination of the first effort and represents a bipartisan attempt to construct and pass legislation to respond to core deficiencies in our approach and programs.

Development is a third pillar of U.S. national security, but in resources and stature, our assistance programs are poor cousins to diplomacy and defense. Senior U.S. policymakers, including the President, have not had direct access to an international development voice with a long-term perspective when considering foreign policy issues. At Cabinet meetings, at senior OMB budget meetings, at senior National Security Council meetings, the development focus has been missing.

The USAID mission director should be the senior officer in the field overseeing all U.S. development and humanitarian efforts and that modifying this role is leading to confusion and potentially undermining U.S. development and foreign assistance objectives. To clarify this situation, S. 1524 includes a provision that mandates the USAID mission director as responsible for coordinating all U.S. development and humanitarian assistance efforts in a given country, under the guidance of the Chief of Mission.

S. 1524 establishes an independent Council on Research and Evaluation (CORE). The evaluation council is based in the executive branch, but it operates independently under the auspices of an interagency board. Its mandate is to objectively evaluate the impact of U.S. foreign assistance programs and their contribution to policies, strategies, projects, program goals, and priorities undertaken by the United States in support of foreign policy objectives.

This Act directs USAID to allow personnel to undertake interagency and international rotations to bring a cross-disciplinary focus to USAID. The bill emphasizes the importance of language training and seeks to ensure that all foreign service officers assigned to overseas posts, especially to critical posts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, receive appropriate language training equivalent to that received by counterpart foreign service officers at the State Department.

It should be noted that nothing in this bill is intended to affect the independence of the Peace Corps. To fulfill its responsibilities successfully and to retain its unique people-to-people character, the Peace Corps must remain substantially separate from the day-to-day conduct and concerns of our foreign policy. The Peace Corps’ role and its need for separation from the day-to-day activities of the mission are not comparable to those of other U.S. Government agencies with foreign assistance programs.

S. 1524 also establishes important transparency standards, including establishing recommendations for a uniform set of reporting standards and guidelines to be followed by all Federal departments and agencies so that taxpayers have a clearer understanding of what programs and activities are being funded and what outcomes are resulting.

Again, I ask you to cosponsor S. 1524, or at minimum to commit to vote for it when it is considered on the floor of the Senate. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,