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May 17, 2012

Kucinich to Retire From Congress 
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Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio has announced his retirement
from Congress rather than seeking a new term through a vacant seat in
Washington State. Kucinich will lose his longtime Ohio seat under
Republican-mandated redistricting at the end of the year. He recently
lost a primary to another Ohio Democrat, Marcy Kaptur, in a re-drawn
district. Kucinich had been considering running for one of Washington
State's vacant seats, but on Wednesday announced he will step down
instead. Kucinich said: "I have decided that, at this time, I can best
serve from outside the Congress. My commitments to peace, to workers'
rights and to social and economic justice are constant and are not
dependent upon holding an office." On Wednesday, Kucinich spoke out
against war funding on the House floor.

Dennis Kucinich: "We spend trillions of dollars for war, to wage
violence thousands of miles away, and we’ve become anesthetized to the
violence of war against millions of innocent women, children and men
abroad. It’s no wonder that we’re grappling with how best to deal
with domestic violence. Imagine if we took a fraction of the trillions
of dollars we spend for war and used it to deal with directly the root
causes — ask for another 15 seconds — and ask for money to
deal with the root causes, the root causes of domestic violence, spousal
abuse, child abuse, violence in the schools, gang violence, gun
violence, racial violence, violence against immigrants, violence against
gays. I mean, if we did that, and looked at the root causes, we
wouldn’t even be arguing about spending money for war. We need to look
at the issue of violence in America, and do it in a consistent,
comprehensive way. I yield back."

 

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