The federal budget hurts people locally in order to divert money from social programs into more military violence that hurts people worldwide.
Let’s mobilize a “people-power” movement to reverse federal budget priorities!
We need diplomacy, not war. We need to SLASH the Pentagon budget and FULLY FUND programs to meet human needs.
See information from the National Priorities Project (www.nationalpriorities.org). See information from them and from the Institute for Policy Studies (www.ips-dc.org), including this: http://nationalpriorities.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=5b8add2a5d98b1a652ea7fd72d942dac.410&s=5d8539df492ecae31f82493446c9564b
and this: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2019/03/25/trump-budget-trade-offs-2020/
Trump’s budget proposal calls for a HUGE INCREASE in the Pentagon’s budget, which is already BLOATED and funds massive violence. Meanwhile, his budget calls for SLASHING funding to meet human needs. We need diplomacy, not military violence.
PLEASE USE THE LINK BELOW TO SEND E-MAILS URGING CONGRESS TO REVERSE THOSE BUDGET PRIORITIES: https://secure.everyaction.com/q5iRtoxfXE-_jqdbgNg7ZQ2
For more information and opportunities to take action, visit www.peaceaction.org and https://www.peaceaction.org/what-we-do/campaigns/pentagon-spending/
A March 28, 2019, e-mail from Peace Action (see web link above) included this alarming information:
In one of the more egregious examples, as we continue to feel the effects of climate change, Trump’s budget cuts renewable energy research by 70%, eliminates climate science programs across multiple agencies, and decimates the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget with a 31% cut.
Thankfully, it is Congress and not the president that sets spending level for the Pentagon. More than ever, we need to put maximum pressure on our representatives to scale back on the mountains of money we’re spending on war. I need you to contact your senators and representative today and ask them to oppose increases for the Pentagon while nearly all social programs are cut.
Regardless of what programs you most want your tax dollars going to, it’s highly likely Trump wants to cut them to pay for the Pentagon’s huge increase. Trump’s budget proposal includes major cuts to programs that seek to end and prevent conflict and address human needs, including cuts to –
• State Department funding by 23.3 percent
• Department of Education funding by 12 percent
• Housing and Urban Development funding by 16.4 percent
• Department of Transportation funding by 21.5 percent
• Department of Labor funding by 9.7 percent
• Environmental Protection Agency funding by 31 percent
Trump’s Pentagon budget increase also comes with a healthy dose of policy dishonesty. According to the Budget Control Act of 2011, Congress can only spend a certain percentage of overall appropriations on defense versus non-defense programs. In 2018, the cap was roughly 54 percent. To get around this, Trump is playing a game of legislative smoke and mirrors. The “baseline” Pentagon budget will go from $647 billion in 2019 to $576 billion in 2020, an apparent $71 billion decrease. These “cuts” however will be offset by massive increases in what’s called Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, previously used as an emergency fund for U.S. war-fighting abroad. OCO is not subject to these mandatory congressional spending limits and has become a huge slush fund for the Pentagon to spend on anything it wants.
