About eight months ago I wrote about my US Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois-9). In that post, I mentioned that part of my admiration for her was because of her strong and continuing “willingness to take on the Republican-connected mercenary firm Blackwater” as well as other mercenary firms.Yesterday Rep. Schakowsky and US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced The Stop Outsourcing Security Act (H.R.4650/S.3023) which, if passed and signed by the president, will phase out the use of private military contractors doing jobs that the military used to do.
Appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, Schakowsky pointed out that at the very least these contractors have given the US a bad name and image and at worst many have committed serious crimes. This is the first real attempt to get rid of mercenary firms like Blackwater.
On her website, Schakowsky invites people to “Become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Stop Outsourcing Security Act”. Her idea is to mobilise ordinary citizens to put pressure on Congress to pass the bill. She certainly has my support, and I hope the bill succeeds.
Add this to the list of reason for why I’m proud to vote for Jan Schakowsky and to have her as my Representative in the US Congress.
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