FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
PRESS CONTACT
press@defendamericandemocracy.org
RELEASE: Veterans Meet With Dozens of Members of Congress’ Offices, Urge Them to Uphold Their Oath and Put Country Over Politics on Impeachment
WASHINGTON—Over the past two days, veterans from around the country spent time on Capitol Hill urging their congressional representatives to put country over politics as Congress heads to a vote on impeaching the president. 30 veterans held meetings with more than a dozen offices, asking senators and representatives of both parties to do their job and defend American democracy, just like the veterans did when they served in the military.
"I appreciate these members and their staffs taking the time to talk to us about impeachment," said Kate Smith, an Air Force veteran. "We have to stand up for our democracy now, just as we did when we decided to serve. We need to ensure that in our country, no one is above the law."
"We need to hold the president accountable for endangering our democracy and our national security," said Hazel Diaz, a Marine Corps veteran from Bucks County. "We swore an oath to uphold the Constitution when we served, just like members of Congress. We did our job, now they need to do theirs."
"We served to defend American democracy and now that we see it under threat, we are standing up again," said Alex Babcock, an Army veteran from Orlando, Florida. "These members need to look at the oath they took—the same one we took—and take that oath seriously. The President cannot be above the law."
Veterans from Defend American Democracy met with:
Senator Tom Tillis
Senator Cory Gardner
Senator Martha McSally
Senator Pat Toomey
Senator Marco Rubio
Senator Kyrsten Sinema
Rep. Will Hurd
Rep. Dave Schweikert
Rep. Paul Mitchell
Rep. Jared Golden
Rep. John Katko
Rep. Rodney Davis
Rep. Fred Upton
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler
Rep. Elise Stefanik
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick
Rep. Scott Perry
Rep. Steve Chabot
The group recently announced a seven-figure ad buy across 14 districts—FL-15, IL-13, MI-06, MO-02, NE-02, NY-01, NY-02, NY-24, OH-01, PA-01, TX-10, TX-23, TX-31, and WA-03—and Washington, D.C. The ads feature veterans repeating the call for Congress to do what they swore an oath to do—protect and defend the U.S. Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. The campaign has also visited five House districts—WA-03, MI-06, IL-13, NY-24, and PA-01—to call on specific members of Congress to put politics aside when it comes to impeachment.
Defend American Democracy is a bipartisan campaign to call on Congress to put politics aside when it comes to impeachment and hold the president accountable for his abuse of power. The broad coalition of organizations focused on national security and veterans issues includes Common Defense, Truman National Security Project, Protect the Investigation, Law Works, Protect Democracy, Stand Up Republic, Republicans for the Rule of Law, and National Security Action.
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