The Blair government is in a unique position to take the few steps which may deliver progress in the peace process and help guarantee the peace. Having just returned from Ireland, after meeting many of the principals in the talks, we are concerned that while hope burns brightly among the Irish people, the greater peril of inaction lurks dangerously below the surface.
Without substantial movement soon, the IRA ceasefire is merely a tenuous grip on the fragile and only a temporary peace.
Progress must be made - and quickly. The status quo remains unacceptable to the minority, who want not just peace but a lasting peace with justice.
Based on our meetings, we believe this is the best chance for a real peace agreement since the partition of Ireland in 1921.
The new Labour government must do what John Major's government did not - in part because of the restrictive realities of coalition politics. Mr Blair's approval rating is close to 90 per cent and his party's majority in the House of Commons is impregnable.
The time for boldness, confidence-building and reconciliation is now.
Since Mr Blair has stated he wants a peace agreement put before the people in a referendum next year, and since he is in the strongest position of any prime minister since Gladstone to achieve such an agreement and has taken small but significant steps already, we are hopeful that he will seriously consider the suggestions we now make - as good friends and allies, Americans deeply committed to peace in Northern Ireland.
Despite the public pronouncements of the Labour government in support of the peace process, there is a growing sentiment that not all of the British government's leadership is fully committed to the current efforts to find lasting peace - and are indeed working to prepare for its failure.
For example, despite the recent announcement that 250 paratroopers are withdrawing, the British military presence has still to be significantly scaled down.
In contrast, British troops have recently refortified mountain-top bunkers in south Armagh, an IRA stronghold. This would have been impossible before the ceasefire, and in fact threatens support on the ground for the ceasefire.
In light of the public outrage in the United Kingdom over the famous au pair case in the US, when Louise Woodward at least had access to a fair trail, it is ironic to see the British government's treatment of Irish prisoners.
In Northern Ireland, trial by jury is often suspended. On the subject of Irish prisoners and without reference to the nature of charges against all of these individuals, we would like to discuss on a humanitarian basis the case of one such prisoner, Roisin McAliskey.
Ms McAliskey, pregnant with her first child, spent more than six months in a British prison in conditions so inhumane as to be denounced by Amnesty International. She is accused of having bombed a British troop barracks in Germany. Several legal experts have concluded that the evidence against her is weak at best.
Ms McAliskey has suffered a nervous breakdown and, as a result of her treatment, is in a psychiatric hospital with her young child. On humanitarian grounds, and in the interest of justice, we requested on our recent visit that the Home Secretary suspend the German extradition proceedings against Ms McAliskey.
On the overall subject of Irish prisoners, we also urged the prompt transfers of many back to Ireland, which would help to establish greater faith in the British government among Catholics in both the North and South.
There are about 20 such prisoners arrested in what they regard as a war, who have been sentenced to 15 years or longer. In the past they have been subjected to horrible conditions and continued harassment.
According to one British newspaper account, prisoners were "awakened on the hour, every hour, lights in cells are never switched off, and the exercise area a 12 ft by 12 ft box, so covered in layers of wire mesh that no daylight ever crept in".
It should be said that the Blair government has made some progress.
Prisoners have been transferred to jails in Northern Ireland. Relatives may now visit without the disappointments of old, when they would often make the long journey sometimes only to be told that their son or brother had been moved or was otherwise not available for visiting.
The Blair government has also improved prison conditions.
Though we are encouraged by this progress, we made a specific and urgent request for further transfers of prisoners who wish to do their remaining time in Ireland.
The situation in Ireland is the product of a long and tumultuous history, typified more by violence than by peace, filled more with distrust than trust. We believe the current British government is in a position to deliver peace.
Small but symbolic steps, such as releasing Roisin McAliskey, transferring prisoners, halting the re-fortification and accelerating the withdrawal of troops, could yield big dividends.
The previous British government did not take advantage of a 17-month ceasefire, during which President Clinton made his historic visit to the North. We hope Mr Blair's government will grasp the opportunity.
Congressman Ben Gilman is chairman of the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives and a co-chair of the ad hoc Committee for Irish Affairs. Congressman Jim Walsh is chairman of the Friends of Ireland.
Both are Republican members of Congress from New York and were leaders of a recent congressional delegation to Northern Ireland