Rewards for Justice Legislation (H.R. 4077/ S. 2318)
Two bipartisan bills were introduced in early 2012 proposing the expansion of the State Department's existing Rewards For Justice program to offer rewards for information leading to the arrest of Joseph Kony and top LRA commanders.
Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator John Boozman (R-AR) introduced the legislation in April, after a parallel House version of the bill was introduced in February by Representative Ed Royce (R-CA).
The current Rewards for Justice program, which has been in place since 1984, allows the State Department to offer incentives in exchange for information leading to the capture of wanted terrorists and drug traffickers, as well as war criminals wanted by the international criminal tribunals on Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia.
The proposed legislation would expand the authority of the program to offer rewards for information on individuals wanted by other international criminal tribunals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. This would include International Criminal Court (ICC) indictee Joseph Kony and other top LRA commanders.
This legislation has enormous potential to help in bringing Kony and other LRA leaders to justice and an end to LRA violence. Not only could it provide valuable information about Kony's location, plans, and movements, bringing us closer to his capture, but it could also encourage the defection of both high-level commanders and those under their command, striking a severe blow to the LRA's fighting capacity. Read the full text of the bills here and here.
Below are all the House and Senate cosponsors, listed alphabetically:
| H.R.4077 - COSPONSORS | S.2318 - COSPONSORS |
|
Original sponsor: Ed Royce (R-CA40) Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] Rep Calvert, Ken [CA-44] Rep Capuano, Michael [MA-8] Rep Carnahan, Russ [MO-3] Rep Carson, Andre [IN-7] Rep Carter, John R. [TX-31] Rep Chabot, Steve [OH-1] Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] Rep Cole, Tom [OK-4] Rep Connolly, Gerald E. "Gerry" [VA-11] Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] Rep Costa, Jim [CA-20] Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] Rep Gardner, Cory [CO-4] Rep Green, Gene [TX-29] Rep Heinrich, Martin [NM-1] Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] Rep Israel, Steve [NY-2] Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2] Rep Johnson, Bill [OH-6] Rep Lance, Leonard [NJ-7] Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] Rep Lance, Leonard [NJ-7] Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] Rep McCaul, Michael T. [TX-10] Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] Rep Miller, Brad [NC-13] Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1] Rep Pascrell, Bill Jr. [NJ-8] Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [PA-16] Rep Platts, Todd Russell [PA-19] Rep Poe, Ted [TX-2] Rep Reichert, David G. [WA-8] Rep Reyes, Silvestre [TX-16] Rep Richardson, Laura [CA-37] Rep Rivera, David [FL-25] Rep Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [FL-18] Rep Ross, Dennis [FL-12] Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29] Rep Schock, Aaron [IL-18] Rep Sherman, Brad [CA-27] Rep Sires, Albio [NJ-13] Rep Smith, Adam [WA-9] Rep Smith, Christopher H. [NJ-4] Rep Stivers, Steve [OH-15] Rep Tonko, Paul [NY-21] Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] Rep Turner, Robert L. [NY-9] Rep Van Hollen, Chris [MD-8] Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] Rep Walberg, Tim [MI-7] Rep Wolf, Frank R. [VA-10] Rep Yoder, Kevin [KS-3] |
Original Sponsors: John Kerry (D-MA) & John Boozman (R-AR)
Sen Coons, Christopher A. [DE] Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] Sen Franken, Al [MN] Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC] Sen Isakson, Johnny [GA] Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI]
|
| Total: 55 Cosponsors | Total: 9 Cosponsors |
(Return to the KONY 2012 "Take Action" page here.)