Candidates Call on Congress to Cut Off Iraq Funding

In a week that saw Congress cow to President Bush's demands for full Iraq War funding without benchmarks, two candidates seeking the Green Party nomination for U.S. Congress in 2008 say they would vote against any bill that would continue to fund the occupation.

Candidates Call on Congress to Cut Off Iraq Funding

Contact: Patrick Kelly
Media Coordinator
Illinois Green Party
773-203-9631
media@ilgp.org

May 25, 2007

In a week that saw Congress cow to President Bush's demands for full Iraq War funding without benchmarks, two candidates seeking the Green Party nomination for U.S. Congress in 2008 say they would vote against any bill that would continue to fund the occupation.

David Kalbfleisch, candidate for 10th Congressional District, and Steve Alesch, candidate for 13th Congressional District, both members of the Illinois Green Party, jointly called on Congress to cut off funding and force the president to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq immediately.

"The bold solution to this problem is immediately to de-fund the occupation and impeach the people whose lies justified its start.
Congress owes that to us," said Kalbfleisch, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Congress approved a revised version of an Iraq funding bill previously vetoed by President Bush. The revised bill leaves out
measures for accountability and timetables for withdrawal, and President Bush has signed the revised bill into law.

"In terms of putting us on a path to ending this war, the vetoed bill was weak enough," says Kalbfleisch. "Now Congress has bowed to the president, removing even the last shred of accountability. Clearly nothing has changed on Capitol Hill since the last election."

"The people have said over and over they want an end to the occupation," says Alesch, a software engineer and 26-year resident of the 13th Congressional District. "This Congress talks a good game, but at the end of the day, the president still got exactly
what he wants: Funding for a war with no objectives and no end in sight."

Like many Green Party members, Kalbfleisch and Alesch both support an immediate end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

"The only way to support our troops is to bring them home alive, right now," says Kalbfleisch, ex-submariner who spent most of 2003 in the Arabian Gulf.

"It's gotten very fashionable for Democrats and now some Republicans to say they're against the war," says Alesch, a Warrenville resident and co-chair of the DuPage County Green Party. "But doing something about it takes more courage and conviction than almost anyone currently in Congress has. My opponent for instance has an abysmal voting record, consistently supporting the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq."

For more information about David Kalbfleisch, visit  www.electdave.org. Steve Alesch's campaign Web site is forthcoming. New
Visit www.dupagegreens.org for information about the DuPage County Green Party. For information about the Illinois Green Party, visit www.ilgp.org.