Over 4.5 million refugees are without a home, but the United States has excepted fewer than most other Western nations, including Canada. Now governors are trying to ban refugee resettlement in their state [which illegal to do] and President Obama is struggling to get Congressional approval for the settlement of 10,000 in the U.S. Tell Congress that you support providing human beings a place where they feel safe and can call home.

Sen. Chris Murphy [D-CT] has called for the U.S. to end its military involvement in the Saudi war in Yemen. "I just don't see any evidence right now that the Saudis are conducting that military exercise in a way that's responsible. It's just feeding the humanitarian crisis inside Yemen," Senator Murphy said. [1] The Saudi war in Yemen has already killed thousands of civilians; the UN has said Saudi targeting of civilians in Yemen with air strikes may constitute crimes against humanity. Human Rights Watch has called on the U.S. to halt all transfer of arms to Saudi Arabia that might be used in violations of international law. [2] Urge the Senate to stand with Senator Murphy in calling for the end of U.S. military involvement in the Saudi war in Yemen by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chris-murphy-saudi-arabia-yemen_us_56b3d010e4b04f9b57d9073c 2. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-war-saudi-un-idUSKCN0V52Q0

The UN working group on arbitrary detention has found that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained in London for more than five years and should be released immediately. [1] Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said: “In light of this decision, it’s clear that any criminal charges against Mr. Assange in connection with WikiLeaks’ publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional. Indeed, even the prolonged criminal investigation of WikiLeaks itself has had a profound chilling effect. The Justice Department should end that investigation and make clear that no publisher will ever be prosecuted for the act of journalism.” [2] Urge the U.S. government to end all criminal investigations and threats of prosecution against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks by signing our petition. Initial signers: Oliver Stone, director Robert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action Jon Rainwater, Executive Director, Peace Action West Jodie Evans, Co-founder, CODEPINK Beverly Bell, Founder, Other Worlds Jeff Cohen, Co-founder, RootsAction.org Ann Wertheimer, Chair, American Voices Abroad Kevin Zeese, Co-director, Popular Resistance Karen Barton, Coordinator, Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition Alice Slater, New York Director, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Hedy Epstein, Holocaust Survivor C. G. Estabrook, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois T.M. Scruggs, Anthromusicologist A. Belden Fields, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Illinois References: 1. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17012&LangID=E 2. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/05/julian-assange-un-panel-uk-sweden-deprivation-of-liberty

Ted Cruz [1], Marco Rubio and Ron Wyden [2] have introduced legislation to try to erase the distinction in U.S. government policy between goods produced in Israel and goods produced in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House. [3] J Street and Americans for Peace Now oppose this pro-settlement legislation. [4] Although this pro-settlement, pro-occupation campaign is opposed by the Obama Administration, Senator Wyden's support for it is worrisome. It suggests that this pro-settlement campaign could spread to other Democrats in Congress. Some press reports have suggested that the Administration might be considering enforcing existing U.S. law more consistently, so that, for example, wines sold in the U.S. from Shiloh Winery in the West Bank could no longer be labeled "Made in Israel." [4] If the Cruz-Rubio-Wyden pro-settlement effort is successful, it could discourage the Administration from enforcing existing U.S. law. Urge your Senators and Representative to oppose this pro-settlement legislation by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2474/cosponsors 2. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-resolution/346/cosponsors 3. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/567/cosponsors 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tom-cotton-israel-palestinian-territories-label_us_56afcc6fe4b09214b14f3506 5. http://forward.com/news/332192/us-labeling-rules-already-bar-made-in-israel-tag-for-west-bank/

The Obama administration is drawing up plans to significantly escalate U.S. military action in Libya. Administration officials say the campaign in Libya could begin in a matter of weeks. This escalation is being planned without a meaningful debate in Congress about the merits and risks of a military campaign, the New York Times notes. Pentagon officials have not made a case that the proposed military action has achievable goals, and airstrikes could lead to a ground war. [1] If Congress takes no action, endless war will likely be extended to a new country, without time limit, without restrictions on the use of U.S. ground troops, and without any limit on who can be targeted, even if they have never attacked the United States nor shown any public inclination to do so. Urge Congress to exercise its responsibilities under the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution by debating and voting on U.S. military escalation in Libya before it happens by signing our petition at MoveOn. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/opinion/opening-a-new-front-against-isis-in-libya.html

A declassified Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] report shows that in September 2002, senior officials of the Bush Administration, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Air Force General Richard Myers, and Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, knew that the Bush Administration's public case for war did not match U.S. intelligence knowledge. [1] Politico notes that several Iraq war architects are now advising Republican presidential candidates. Then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, whose military assistant was copied on the JCS report, is one of Jeb Bush’s foreign policy experts. John Bolton is advising Ted Cruz. Elliott Abrams and William Kristol are supporting Marco Rubio. Senator Dick Durbin, who voted against the war, said on the Senate floor in April 2007 that as a member of the Senate intelligence committee, he had known in 2002 that U.S. intelligence knowledge did not match the Bush Administration's public case for war. “The information we had in the intelligence committee was not the same information being given to the American people. I couldn’t believe it,” Durbin said. [2] Politico notes that the 2002 JCS report was available for inspection by Members of Congress, if they were interested. But as the Washington Post reported in April 2004, as Congress debated the war in the fall of 2002, no more than six senators and a handful of House members read the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq WMD. [3] Urge the New York Times to investigate who in the Administration and Congress knew the public case for the Iraq war was bogus and when they knew it, and who should have known, by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/iraq-war-wmds-donald-rumsfeld-new-report-213530 2. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/apr/27/20070427-124842-1706r/ 3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/04/27/congressional-oversight-of-intelligence-criticized/a306890e-4684-4ed4-99a0-c8ae7f47feb7/

Detained for the "crime" of having outspoken American ideals, Otto Warmbier has been subject to unjustified imprisonment and disgraceful violation of his civil liberties by the Repressed People's Dictatorship of North Korea. This cannot continue. We must protect the freedom of our citizens abroad. The United States government must pursue any and all diplomatic action to secure Otto Warmbrier's freedom.

President Obama and Pentagon officials have released a blueprint to close the Guantanamo detention facility by the end of the president's last year in office. The current plan relies on the cooperation of Senate Republicans, yet the president hasn't ruled out using his executive authority to bypass an unwilling Congress. The president is committed to taking Guantanamo “off the plate of the next president.” But he's facing an uphill battle and time is running out. The president has less than one year to meet his human rights obligations by closing Guantanamo and charging and trying—or else releasing—all detainees.

Thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran's nuclear program has been sharply curtailed and has been made much more transparent and accountable to the international community. [1] Thanks to the diplomacy of John Kerry, 10 U.S. sailors who accidentally strayed into Iranian waters were released from Iranian custody within 24 hours. [2] Thanks to the diplomacy of John Kerry, five Americans previously imprisoned by Iran have been released. [3] These achievements were made possible in part by the relationships that Kerry built with Iranian officials over years of negotiations and diplomacy. In a year, the United States will have a new President. Some politicians want to tear up the nuclear agreement with Iran; some politicians want the nuclear agreement to be the end of diplomacy with Iran, and want to escalate confrontation with Iran on other fronts, thereby attacking the Iran deal indirectly; some politicians want to keep going with the diplomatic opening to Iran and see what else can be achieved. When President Obama was first inaugurated, he kept Robert Gates as Defense Secretary to help ensure continuity in our Iraq and Afghanistan policies. The next President should keep John Kerry as Secretary of State to ensure continuity in our Iran policies. Pressing politicians to declare on whether John Kerry should stay as Secretary of State will clarify where they stand on diplomacy with Iran. Urge Washington politicians to declare that they support keeping John Kerry as Secretary of State to protect the #IranDeal by signing our petition. 1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/iran-deal 2. http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/265730-kerry-thanks-iran-for-care-of-us-sailors 3. http://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/iran-releases-five-u-s-prisoners-603948099590

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama called on Americans to "reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion," [1] widely reported as a slam on the anti-Muslim, anti-refugee politics of Republican presidential frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. [2] But apparently Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn't get the memo. McConnell is insisting that the Senate vote to end the admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to the United States. [3] Urge the Senate to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion, including any blanket ban on the admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to the United States, by signing our petition. References: 1. https://medium.com/@WhiteHouse/president-obama-s-2016-state-of-the-union-address-7c06300f9726 2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-urges-nation-not-to-fear-future/2016/01/13/8cea820c-b936-11e5-99f3-184bc379b12d_story.html 3. http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/12/politics/senate-syrian-refugees/index.html

Last September, we secured a major diplomatic victory when Congress voted to uphold the nuclear deal reached by the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, and Iran. [1] Since then, huge progress has been made in limiting Iran's nuclear program and making it more transparent to the international community. [2] Unfortunately, war hawks in Congress aren't giving up. They have made clear that they will use every opportunity to try to undermine the deal. Their latest vehicle is H.R. 3662, the so-called "Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act." This partisan bill would prohibit President Obama from delivering on sanctions relief, even if Iran fully complies with the deal, as it has so far. We must send a strong message to Congress that such Congressional efforts to undermine the deal are unacceptable. Urge Congress to oppose this and similar efforts to undermine the Iran deal by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/iran-deal 2. http://news.yahoo.com/implementation-iran-nuclear-deal-days-away-kerry-193148623.html

One of the most controversial aspects of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is “Investor-State Dispute Settlement,” or ISDS - corporations suing governments in retaliation for laws or regulations that they claim reduce their profits. As Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote, "ISDS would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws — and potentially to pick up huge payouts from taxpayers — without ever stepping foot in a U.S. court." [1] In response to criticism of ISDS provisions in the TPP agreement from Senator Warren, Senator Sanders, [2] and others, the White House promised to put "stronger safeguards" on ISDS in the TPP. [3] Now Canadian oil company TransCanada has announced that it will sue the U.S. government for $15 billion dollars under the ISDS provisions of NAFTA for rejecting TransCanada’s controversial plan to build the Keystone XL pipeline. [4] Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law, said: "TransCanada has proven what concerned citizens have argued for decades – that the primary purpose of ISDS is to subvert democratic processes and the public interest, in the name of private profit. It has demonstrated to the citizens of the United States, and the world, why these provisions have no place in new trade agreements." [5] Urge the Administration to show Congress and the American people how its claimed "stronger safeguards" on ISDS in the proposed TPP would prevent the Keystone XL NAFTA lawsuit by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kill-the-dispute-settlement-language-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership/2015/02/25/ec7705a2-bd1e-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html 2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/the-tpp-must-be-defeated_b_7352166.html 3. https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/02/26/investor-state-dispute-settlement-isds-questions-and-answers 4. http://time.com/4170966/keystone-pipeline-canada-lawsuit/ 5. http://www.ciel.org/news/8886/