John,

Despite the Pentagon only being able to account for 39% of its $3.5 trillion in assets last year, Congress is considering an $886 billion weapons and war budget for 2024.

While families struggle to put food on the table, people fall through the health care system’s gaps, and students struggle to get a quality education, hundreds of billions of dollars are funneled into the Pentagon time and time again.

But it turns out that every year, the Pentagon quietly comes back for even more. Congressionally required unfunded priorities lists—wish lists—have become an informal channel where Congress can redirect billions more dollars of critical government resources toward weapons and war, and away from our communities.

This year’s wish list is already adding up to over $16 billion—and it’s time to shut down this money grab.

Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Tom McClintock (CA-05), Warren Davidson (OH-08), John Garamendi (CA-08), and Seth Moulton (MA-06) have introduced bipartisan legislation to repeal the requirement that military services submit unfunded priorities lists each year—The Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act.[1]

Congress should decide on the funding proposed for military spending by the administration. The last thing we need is an invitation for price-gouging military contractors to jack up their bottom lines. ADD YOUR NAME to become a grassroots co-sponsor of The Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act today to crack down on waste in the Pentagon budget.

About half of the Department of Defense budget goes to military contractors. An exhaustive six month investigation by 60 Minutes has exposed drastic price gouging by federal military contractors―with some raking in total profits near 40%![2]

Throwing huge budget increases year after year to the Pentagon’s corporate contractors, which are also paying historically low tax rates, undermines our security by preventing us from investing in the shared prosperity that comes from investments in housing, climate and public health protections, ending hunger, and more education. And Pentagon spending has been shown to create fewer jobs than comparable amounts spent on sectors including education, health care, renewable energy, or infrastructure.[3]

We need to make sure that the Pentagon operates with the fiscal responsibility and transparency that U.S. taxpayers deserve. Congress needs to pass the The Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act.

Sign the petition to become a grassroots co-sponsor of the The Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act today.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

[1] Jayapal, McClintock, Davidson, Garamendi, Moulton Introduce Bipartisan Solution to Cut Wasteful Pentagon Spending
[2]Weapons contractors hitting Department of Defense with inflated prices for planes, submarines, missiles
[3]Costs of War, Employment Impact, Watson Institute, Brown University