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[[File:Guy Houston.JPG|thumb|150px|[[California Assembly|California Assembly member]] [[Guy Houston]] authored legislation to remove over $3 million in transit funding from Berkeley. He also appeared at the February 12th protest.]]
The position taken by the Berkeley City Council was interpreted by many across the country as a sign that they did not [[support the troops]].<ref name="DC Revisit Vote">{{cite web|url= http://www.dailycal.org/article/100233/council_members_to_revisit_vote|title= Council Members to Revisit Vote|accessdate= 2008-02-05|last= Shin|first= Jane|date= 2008-02-05|work = [[The Daily Californian]]|publisher=Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company, Inc.}}</ref> Berkeley's motion was followed by a backlash in conservative blogs and among conservative lawmakers, including introduction of the "Semper Fi Act" in Congress to cancel several million dollars in specific federal funding for public primary and secondary education programs, the University of California, Berkeley, and key transportation programs including a proposed state-operated ferry service to Albany and Berkeley.<ref name="CNN">
{{cite news |title = Berkeley to Marines: You're 'not welcome in our city' |date= February 8, 2008 |author=Drash, Wayne |publisher = CNN | url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/berkeley.protests/index.html| accessdate = 2008-02-09}}</ref> In response to the council's vote, on February 1, 2008 [[United States Senator|Senator]] [[Jim DeMint]] said that he would introduce legislation that would strip Berkeley of its $2,392,000 in [[federal funding]].<ref name="DC Threat on City Funds">{{cite web|url= http://www.dailycal.org/article/100199/marines_vote_leads_to_threat_on_city_funds|title= Marines Vote Leads to Threat on City Funds: Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to Introduce Bill To Remove City's $2.3 Million in Earmarks|accessdate= 2008-02-05|last=Fife|first=Taylor|
|publisher=Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company, Inc.}}</ref> On February 6, 2008 Jim DeMint was joined by [[Saxby Chambliss]], [[Tom Coburn]], [[John Cornyn]], [[James Inhofe]], and [[David Vitter]] in the Senate to introduce the Semper Fi Act of 2008 which would strip federal funding from Berkeley.<ref name="SJM Lawmakers">{{cite web|url= http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_8193511|title= Lawmakers aim to punish Berkeley over anti-Marines stance|accessdate= 2008-02-07|last= Oakley|first= Doug|date= 2008-02-07|work= [[San Jose Mercury News]]|publisher= [[MediaNews Group]]}}</ref> In total, the bill was co-sponsored by 10 senators.<ref name="Lawmakers"/> The bill strips $243,000 from the [[Chez Panisse Foundation]] which provides school lunches to children in Berkeley, and $975,000 allocated to build the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] which would have created an archive of [[Bob Matsui|Robert Matsui's]] papers and a new endowment.<ref name="Lawmakers"/><ref name="SJM Lawmakers" /> The bill was defeated on March 13, 2008.<ref name="DC NIB Bill" />
UC Berkeley Chancellor [[Robert Birgeneau]] sent a letter to 52 lawmakers in Washington stating that UC Berkeley had no connection to the council's decision, that the UC campus and the city of Berkeley are completely separate institutions, that the Berkeley City Council has no authority over the UC campus, that UC Berkeley has long standing [[Reserve Officer Training Corps|ROTC]] programs, and that he believed the council proposals were "ill advised, intemperate and hurtful, particularly to the young men and women and their families who are sacrificing so much for our country."<ref name="Lawmakers"/> City Council member Gordon Wozniak criticized the act as unfair, stating "These people have nothing to do with the council's action. They should not be penalized just because they happen to live in Berkeley."<ref name="DC Senators Put Forward Act">{{cite web|url= http://www.dailycal.org/article/100282/senators_put_forward_act_to_withhold_funds|title= Senators Put Forward Act to Withhold Funds: Legislation in Response to Recruiting Center Opposition Would Remove Millions in Funds from Local Projects|accessdate= 2008-02-07|last= Shin|first= Jane|
Republican Assemblyman [[Guy Houston]] of [[San Ramon, California|San Ramon]] announced that he will introduce legislation to withhold state transportation funds from Berkeley until they rescind their "war on the U.S. Marine Corps."<ref name=AP2008-02-08>{{cite news|accessdate=2008-02-09|url=http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_berkeley_080208/|title=Penalty eyed for Berkeley stance on Marines|author=[[Associated Press]]|date=2008-02-08|work=Marine Corps Times}}</ref> Houston's proposed bill intends to withhold $3.3 million in state funds from Berkeley.<ref name="Lawmakers"/> Houston's bill failed to pass the California State Assembly Committee on Transportation by one vote.<ref name="DC NIB Bill">{{Citation | last =Sturla | first =Kate | publication-date = 2008-04-15 | year = 2008 | title =Committee Strikes Down Bill Penalizing Berkeley | periodical = [[The Daily Californian]] | series = | publication-place = Berkeley | publisher =Independent Berkeley Students Publishing Company, Inc. | url =http://www.dailycal.org/article/101311 | accessdate = 2008-04-15}}</ref>
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==Council changes letter's language==
[[File:Code Pink in Berkeley.jpg|thumb|200px|Code Pink at the February 12th protest.]]
25,000 people wrote to city leaders urging them to rescind the letter.<ref name="Lawmakers"/> Some members of the city council regretted their vote after the motion passed. Councilwoman Betty Olds said she was ashamed of her vote.<ref name="Group"/> On February 4, 2008, Council members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli called on the council to rescind the letter to the Marines and to declare that Berkeley was against the war but supported the troops.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/05/BAHVUS06B.DTL|title= In Berkeley, push to rescind letter to Marines|accessdate= 2008-02-16|last= Jones|first= Carolyn|date= 2008-02-05|work= [[San Francisco Chronicle]]|publisher= [[Hearst Communications]]}}</ref> On February 12, 2008, the council met to reconsider the Marine Corps Recruiting motions. On this day, at its peak, 2,000 protesters gathered outside city hall, with one group protesting against the city council motion that included [[Move America Forward]], and the other, consisting mainly of Code Pink, protesting in support of the motions.<ref name="Send"/> The two sides faced each other with police separating them on Martin Luther King Jr. Way; both sides exchanged songs, chants, flag waves, yells, and obscenities. The protest lasted 24 hours, ending at around 1:00 am on February 13.<ref name="Lawmakers"/> There were four arrests.<ref name="Send"/> The City of Berkeley spent $93,000 in police overtime on February 12 as part of a large police presence to keep the peace.<ref name="OT">{{cite web|url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/16/BAK4V3QAI.DTL|title= BMarines protest cost $93,000 for police OT|accessdate= 2008-02-17|last= Jones|first= Carolyn
[[File:Protesters against .JPG|thumb|200px|left|Protesters against the Berkeley City Council motions.]]
On February 13, 2008, after four hours of debates and public comment that included over one hundred speakers, ending at 1:30 am, the Berkeley city council decided 7-2 not to send the letter they had asked the city clerk to draft to the Marines. The new letter written by Mayor [[Tom Bates]] and Council members Max Anderson, Linda Maio and Darryl Moore affirmed "the recruiters' right to locate in our city and the right of others to protest or support their presence." The new letter also stated that Berkeley did not support "the recruitment of our young people into this war" but "deeply respect and support the men and women in our armed forces."<ref name="Lawmakers">{{cite web|url= http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8260944|title= Lawmakers won't back down following Berkeley council's vote retracting statement to U.S. Marine recruiters|accessdate= 2008-02-17|last= Bender|first= Kristin
The council did not reverse four of its previous motions concerning the Marine Corps recruiting center. The council allowed to stand a resolution to "applaud residents and organizations such as Code Pink for "[impeding], passively or actively" military recruiting.<ref name="Lawmakers"/> The parking permit and noise permit for Code Pink was also upheld. Mayor Bates told the [[San Jose Mercury]]: "The Marines have the right to be in Berkeley. It was bad judgment for them to come here. We wish they would leave. We support their right to be here but we wish they would move on."
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