Photo credit: Washington Post
This week, Congress agreed on a budget deal that would end the government shutdown and avert a national default. The legislation, which was approved at nearly the eleventh hour and subsequently signed into law by President Obama, includes a handful of funding measures that, according to Reuters, “would otherwise be handled in normal spending bills.”
One of these special measures extends the authority for the U.S. Department of Defense to continue to provide $35 million in logistical support for regional effort to end LRA violence and bring Joseph Kony to justice. Congress’ inclusion of this specific authorization focused on the LRA crisis came as a very encouraging surprise to all of us.
“Our political advocacy team has been working with activists across the country for the past nine months, lobbying Congress for an extension of this exact authorization — so needless to say, we’re thrilled about this news,” said Invisible Children’s Director of Civic Engagement, Lisa Dougan. “We’re very proud of the dedicated advocacy our supporters have done and we’re so thankful to the members of Congress who have been championing this issue from inside Washington.”
We echo Lisa’s sentiments and give a huge shout-out to all of the activists who have been working hard with the IC Citizen team to keep our leaders in Washington committed to ending LRA violence. Your voices are clearly being heard.
Several advocacy organizations have also reached out to us to extend their congratulations and to underscore how remarkable it is that Congress would include this special, LRA-focused provision in such a broad and intensely-debated piece of legislation. We see that as further evidence that ending LRA violence is one of the rare things we and our leaders can all agree on.
Accomplishments like these would not be possible without your support and dedication. The announcement was made this week, but it is because of the months and years of dedicated, creative activism that you have done to keep the LRA issue on the minds of our leaders. And as Lisa said, we thank the elected officials who remain committed to ending LRA violence, even with all of the other issues they must address.
This week’s decision in Washington – and the work you’ve done to help make that happen – brings us one step close to a world in which #zeroLRA becomes a reality.
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