This coming Wednesday, April 5th, three Republican and three Democratic members of Congress will announce their support for a resolution that will ensure a full and open debate on the Iraq War in the floor of the House. Read the reprint of the Roll Call article that reported this event..

Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Ike Skelton (D-MO), and Marty Meehan (D-MA) will join Walter Jones (R-NC), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), and Ron Paul (R-TX) to publicly declare their support for the measure.  These three Republicans will then march to the well of the House to sign the resolution, joining 76 Democrats and Jim Leach of Iowa (the first Republican), who've already paved the way.  

Could it be that the People's House will actually start to represent the people, who are deeply concerned and divided about our course in Iraq and wonder why Congress is AWOL on this issue?!!!

More below...

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) is the author of H. Res. 543 (technically known as a discharge petition), which is a vehicle to get a full and open debate on the Iraq War.  Abercrombie is not pushing a particular policy solution, but is asking for an honest discussion.  He explained his reasoning at a teleconference hosted by DC for Democracy (DCFD) and Democracy for America, to kick off the national rollout of Change the Course, a campaign mobilizing a nationwide grassroots effort to lobby House members to sign H. Res. 543 and put Congress front and center of the debate that is raging today in the op-ed pages.
Listen to Abercrombie's speech at DCFD's website (under heading "Rep. Abercrombie hosts National Rollout").

When 218 members of the House sign H. Res. 543, it will be pulled out of committee and sent to the floor for a full debate, controlled equally by Republicans and Democrats, where any member can propose any amendment and have it voted on.  Even Ron Paul, who apparently never signs discharge petitions, signed this one because he understands that this is not about a particular resolution, but about generating an honest and informed debate, which is way overdue.

What can you do?
Find out here if your Rep has signed the discharge petition. If he/she has not, call before April 5th and ask why.  If it's a Dem, ask him/her why Republicans are challenging the Administration and their own party leadership, while they're sitting on the sidelines.  Ask them: No matter what you think about the war, how can you possibly be against a debate?