Resolve

In a major victory for Resolve’s S2F campaign, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act today — essentially the budget for the U.S. defense community — and included an unprecedented provision aimed at helping stop LRA atrocities. According to a release on the Committee website, the amendment — put forward by Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and championed by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), the Chair of the Committee — authorizes $35 million to provide support to regional forces working to protect people from LRA atrocities.

Senator Inhofe sent our team his celebratory release after it happened. “This is another step toward ending Joseph Kony’s heinous acts,” he said. “We must work to bring justice to the children and victims in Uganda devastated by Kony and the LRA.” Now, Resolve will be working with allies in Congress to make sure these funds are passed by the House of Representatives as well.

If we succeed, the question will then become how President Obama’s team will choose to use these funds, which roughly triple the amount of assistance provided by the United States each of the past two years to help keep communities safe from the LRA. As we shared in our recent Report Card of the President’s efforts thus far, the current strategy to stop the LRA is not working and must be revamped urgently. These funds can help President Obama to do that.

- Michael