This Scorecard for the 2008 Congress is a tool to inform you -- and to help you take action. Far too often narrow political calculations guide representatives when they vote on life and death foreign policy issues. Countless votes are based on an instinctive political fear of appearing "soft on defense." That's true whether the issue is Iraq, nuclear weapons, or the military budget.

When there was a vote to bring the troops home from Iraq where did your representative stand? Did he or she stand up to the president's Iraq policy? Or did they fall prey to the simplistic notion that funding the war was the same as supporting the troops? Did your representative vote to build new nuclear weapons or to encourage the spread of nuclear weapons technology around the world?

Read this scorecard and you know the score. But that is only the start. We invite you to let your representative know that you know. Communicate your views often by calling, writing or e-mailing -- or better yet visiting -- their office. And when election time rolls around vote your views.

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The 2008 Congressional Scorecard is a joint project between Peace Action and Peace Action West.