Biden’s Budget is Great For Everyday Americans,
But $753 Billion For Pentagon Is Inexcusable 

Public Citizen

WASHINGTON, DC (May 28, 2021) — Today, President Joe Biden released his $6 trillion budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2022 and the ensuing decade.Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:

“After four years of an administration whose signature legislative achievement was the largest wealth transfer to the rich in US history, President Biden’s budget for fiscal year 2022 demonstrates a commitment to everyday Americans and to delivering on his promises, including to advance racial justice and meaningfully address the climate crisis. 

“This is a budget that says, as a nation, we should do the things that make our country more just, fair, and prosperous — and that we know the richest nation in the history of the world, with historic levels of wealth and income concentration, can afford to do those things. That’s the right way to budget and it marks a break not just from Trump but from wrongheaded conventional wisdom going back decades.

“The sweeping $6 trillion proposals, if passed, will be a major boost to the nation’s infrastructure and substantially expand the social safety net. This budget proposal takes important steps to boost domestic spending in the manner we need in order to build back better and provide new investments in education, transportation, and fighting climate change.

“What is out of step in the budget is the $753 billion request for Pentagon. Withdrawing US troops from the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan should produce billions in cost savings and result in less money for the Pentagon, not more. As the budget now makes its way to Congress, appropriators must reallocate Pentagon excess away from military contractors and back into programs that meet true human needs.” 

Public Citizen, 1600 20th Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20009

ACTION ALERT: June 1 Capitol Calling Party
Say NO to New Nuclear Weapons!

CODEPINK

WASHINGTON (May 28, 2021) — This is big. $753,000,000,000 to be exact.

President Biden just released his final Pentagon budget proposal for 2022 which reads like an enormous corporate grab bag for military contractors and includes:
•   At least $30 billion for new nuclear weapons slated to cost $1.7 trillion over the next decades 

•   $17.4 billion for an unnecessary Space Force 

•   Billions for the F-35 fighter jet, a boondoggle with an eventual $1-2 trillion price tag

•   At least $51 billion to maintain over 800 overseas bases and establish new ones in the Indo-Pacific region

Ultimately, the Federal Budget is up to Congress to decide, NOT the President. Which is why we’re so excited that Representatives Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal just introduced new legislation from the Poor People’s Campaign whichcalls for redirecting at least 10% of the military budget to meet human needs.

Call on Congress to redirect military spending to eradicate poverty by supporting legislation from the Poor People’s Campaign “Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty and Low Wages from the Bottom Up!”

The Biden Administration is using China as the major justification for this massive increase in military spending by framing China as a danger to the U.S. and its allies. As former President Jimmy Carter stated, “While the United States has been at war for 20 years, China has instead invested in 21st century infrastructure and in its own people, lifting 800 million of them out of poverty.”

He’s right: if we’re going to address the crisis of poverty and injustice in our country, we can’t continue to hurl money at the for-profit war industry that’s gearing up for war with China. The Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty from the Bottom Up is the bold action we need to address the inter-connected injustices of systemic racism, ecological devastation, and militarism.

We can’t allow politicians to use unfounded fear mongering to justify unlimited U.S. military budgets. Together with our progressive movement allies and in solidarity with 140 million poor and low-income people across the United States, we must begin the critical task of moving money from the Pentagon to urgent domestic needs. 

ACTION: Contact Congress to support legislation that would redirect military funding to invest in human needs!

ACTION: New nuclear weapons? OMG, no! Join CODEPINK Congress Tuesday, June 1 to mobilize with arms control expert William Hartung to stop this nuclear nightmare. RSVP now!

Towards peace and justice,

Madison, Carley, Cody, Danaka, Jodie, Moses, Nancy and the CODEPINK team