Portside

Dear Supporter,

Next week might be key to next year's Federal budget.  The Senate may take up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and congress is supposed to come to a budget agreement on how to move forward for next year.

Might, may, supposed…we’ve become used to a condition of uncertainty when it comes to the ‘workings’ of the U.S. Congress.  What we do know is this: The Pentagon continues to be bloated with unnecessary, cold-war weapons systems, waste and fraud.  At the same time, Congress is considering cuts to SNAP (formerly food stamps) which nearly 50 million Americans use to survive.  Write your Senators now and ask for cuts to Pentagon largesse and to keep funding critical human needs.

Although our longest war, the Afghanistan war, is slowly coming to an end, it costs some $2 million a year for each soldier based there.  Troops should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible so monies can be used here at home on our strained education system and fixing crumbling infrastructure.  Tell your Senators to end the Afghanistan war and fund urgent needs at home.

Lawmakers will be considering the federal budget over the next few weeks.  Now is the time to make your voice heard that you want your tax dollars to be used for positive investments like the environment, education and transit not destructive forces like outdated, unnecessary and immoral weapons like nuclear warheads.

We are all concerned with the many threats to our quality of life.  From climate change to human rights - I get the same appeals that you do.  It’s pretty clear the challenges we face - economic, environmental, the threat of war and mass destruction - are more clearly connected than ever and have grown in size and complexity.  We can no longer confront them issue by issue or cause by cause.

That’s why the debate on budget priorities is so important.  Budget priorities covers virtually all the bases. Subsidies for oil companies or develop green energy.  Food stamps or tax cuts for the super-rich.  Cut the F-35 or the social safety net.

And, on each one of these issues we’re lined up against the same people who argue that money is free speech and corporations are people.  The very same people working to preserve the permanent war economy.  We need to win the battle over budget priorities.

We need a budget that mirrors our values.  We are not lobbyists or corporations.  We are people who live in communities that have real needs, not ideological concerns or special interests.

Thank you again for all the work you do to build a more just and peaceful future.

Humbly for Peace,

Kevin Martin
Executive Director
Peace Action

P.S.  Next week the Senate will take up a major defense bill and Congress will consider the overall Federal budget.  Email your Senators now and let them know to cut the Pentagon and preserve vital human need programs.  Please forward this email to your friends, family and colleagues.