John,

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 each year.

At the same time, the Pentagon is the only department in the federal government to never pass an audit.

In fact, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan determined that $31-60 billion had been lost to fraud and waste. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that the Pentagon could not account for $45 billion in funding for repair projects. An Ernst & Young audit of the Defense Logistics Agency found that it could not account for $800 million in construction projects.[1] We need to know how taxpayer money is being spent―and it should reflect our values.

We’re fighting back against wasteful Pentagon spending, demanding the transparency and fiscal responsibility that U.S. taxpayers deserve. Just imagine the uproar if any other department in the federal government could account for less than half of its assets or allowed contractors to overcharge them by 4,451%!

Donate today to crack down on Pentagon waste and hold price-gouging federal contractors accountable.

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We believe in the importance of transparency and a budget that reflects our priorities. The U.S. cannot continue to waste billions of dollars while countless children and families go without adequate housing and food.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Sanders, Grassley and Colleagues Make Bipartisan Push to Audit the Pentagon and End Wasteful Spending

-- MEREDITH'S EMAIL --

John,

This week, House Republicans were unable to pass a Pentagon spending bill. But it’s not because of wasteful Pentagon spending or price-gouging by federal contractors. It’s because right-wing Freedom Caucus members want to see even deeper cuts to critical domestic programs before they agree to add tens of billions of dollars more to the Pentagon budget.

The current Pentagon budget being negotiated is an astounding $886 billion. That’s more than we spend as a country on Education, Housing, Labor, Veterans, Transportation, and Food and Agriculture combined.¹

That’s why CHN is fighting to crack down on waste in the Pentagon budget and use that money to invest in meeting critical human needs.

Rush a donation today to demand Congress crack down on Pentagon waste, hold corporate price gougers accountable, and rein in the Pentagon budget so we can invest in families and communities in need.

Throwing huge budget increases year after year to the Pentagon’s corporate contractors 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.²

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%!³

Fight back against Pentagon waste and corporate greed. Donate today to keep the pressure on Congress to cut the Pentagon budget and invest billions more in critical programs for human needs.

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The U.S. cannot continue to waste billions of dollars while countless children and families go without adequate housing and food.

Thank you for your support,

Meredith Dodson
Senior Director of Public Policy, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go
² Costs of War, Employment Impact, Watson Institute, Brown University
³ Weapons contractors hitting Department of Defense with inflated prices for planes, submarines, missiles