Cut the Military Budget and Give Us $2,000 Checks With the Money
Average Americans want to cut the military budget, but a constant stream of defense contractor cash to Congress makes such cuts unlikely. Perhaps the best way to argue against the continued expansion of the gargantuan budget for war: insist that we need that money for measures like $2,000 survival checks.
A US military operation in Germany in April 2015. (Flickr)
Speaking with antiwar activists last week, Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) were candid about the challenges in building congressional support for defunding the Pentagon. Lee and Pocan, cochairs of the new Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, led last year’s effort to boost social spending through a 10 percent reduction to the military budget. That amendment, introduced by Pocan, failed (93-324), as did the mirroring legislation introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (23-77).
Zero Republicans supported the measure. Because the party appears set to do the same with a similar measure this year, most of the supporting votes needed this year must come from Democrats who cast opposing votes last year.
Even with favorable additions to this Congress like Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), as well as favorable subtractions, like the incumbent Bowman felled in the 2020 primaries, Eliot Engel, the question remains how to get members of Congress to vote for an amendment they wouldn’t otherwise vote for.
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