Cut Pentagon Spending

In March, Representatives Barbara Lee, Marc Pocan, and Jacob Auchincloss sent a letter from Congress to President Biden, urging that his first budget request to Congress include a REDUCED Pentagon budget. The letter states that “Hundreds of billions of dollars now directed to the military would have greater return if invested in diplomacy, humanitarian aid, global public health, sustainability initiatives, and basic research. …. Thoughtful analysis from experts across the political spectrum shows that significant cuts can be achieved without reducing the support, pay or benefits provided to our men and women in uniform and their families. We could cut the Pentagon budget by more than 10% and still spend more than the next ten largest militaries combined.” However, the Biden Administration released its outline for funding the federal government in fiscal year 2022 and overall the National Defense budget request is higher than Trump’s with a 1.7% increase over the current fiscal year, at $753 billion.

Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI) noted, “We cannot best build back better if the Pentagon’s budget is larger than it was under Donald Trump.” The top line number proposed by Biden is upwards of $46 billion for fiscal 2022, means about a 10% increase in spending next year on the DOE and nuclear weapons programs. The budget would support ongoing nuclear “modernization” programs—billions of dollars for new warhead designs and new bomb factories to build them.

However, there are very important bills being introduced in Congress to reduce the immense dangers and costs of our nuclear weapons programs, and to help improve our prospects for PSR’s ultimate goal of abolition of these dreadful weapons.  
House H.R.1554 and in the Senate S.595 to stop the development of a new nuclear-armed sea launched cruise missile and its associated warhead.
House H.R.2227 and in the Senate S.982 to defund a new land-based ICBM, called the GBSD, and its new warhead, the W87-1 under development at Livermore Lab.

RESOURCES

PSR National: PSR on military spending: time to change the status quo: find there Biden’s 58-page skinny budget request (DOE is 26 pages from the front).
Common Dreams: Khanna Criticizes Biden for Proposing Pentagon Budget Larger Than Trump’s