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Dear John,
We’re about to see the biggest federal budget fights of our lifetimes. And we’re ready.
The incoming Trump administration is taking shape with promises by billionaire Elon Musk to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget [[link removed]] through the non-governmental “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE. It’s a serious misnomer. There’s no way to make that level of cuts without laying waste to trusted programs like Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits. That’s cruelty, not efficiency.
But we do know where budget cuts are desperately needed. The average taxpayer last year gave $3,719 for the Pentagon and war, including $1,748 for Pentagon contractors [[link removed]] . In recent years, more than half of the Pentagon budget has gone to corporate contractors [[link removed](1).pdf] . Meanwhile, news broke this month that the Pentagon failed its seventh audit in a row [[link removed]] (having never passed one). Despite all this, if the second Trump administration follows the path of the first, planned cuts to social programs will be paired with massive Pentagon budget boosts [[link removed]] .
Likewise, in the 20 years after 9/11, the U.S. spent $1.4 trillion on the failed Department of Homeland Security [[link removed]] - a disaster that’s likely to multiply if Congress supports the Trump administration's ghastly plans to conduct mass deportations.
Believe it or not, we can expect some wins against these plans. State and local governments are shoring up defenses against possible abuses. Movements are strategizing about legal challenges, mass protests, and good old-fashioned public information sharing. There will be plenty of misinformation out there, and we’re here and more than ready to counter it.
The 2024 election is over, but the fight is just beginning.
In solidarity,
Lindsay, Hanna, Alliyah, and Aspen
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TRADEOFF: WEAPONS VS. CLIMATE RESILIENCE
Fund life, not war! Since 2014, the U.S. has provided only $2 billion in international climate finance to the Green Climate Fund [[link removed]] . In that same period, Congress authorized at least $79 billion for Foreign Military Financing (FMF) [[link removed]] , or grants the U.S. provides to foreign countries exclusively to purchase U.S.-made weapons [[link removed]] and military training. FMF is just one of many types of foreign military assistance [[link removed]] funded by taxpayers each year.
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Photo courtesy of Philip Chapman-Bell [[link removed]]
TAKE 7: THE PENTAGON FAILS ANOTHER AUDIT
A mere 30 years after major federal agencies were required to complete an audit, and a mere six years since the Pentagon first managed to complete one (and failed) [[link removed]] , the Pentagon has passed another milestone: failing its seventh audit [[link removed]] in as many years. After untold years failing to make the world safer, the Pentagon’s audit failures add insult to injury.
Since the Pentagon is so bad at counting, we wanted to help with a few stats on how they did.
Learn More [[link removed]]
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Photo courtesy of Transform Network [[link removed]]
TEN WAYS TO JOIN THE CLIMATE STRUGGLE
The COP29 climate summit concluded over the weekend with a new global target for international climate finance. Rich nations agreed to collectively provide at least $300 billion [[link removed]] to developing nations by 2035, an increase from the $100 billion annual goal set in 2009 (though far less than what the Global South demanded [[link removed]] ).
The U.S. was already behind in paying a fair share towards climate finance, and the incoming Trump Administration and Republican-dominated Congress are filled with climate deniers who will pose new challenges [[link removed]] to achieving the scale of policy change we need. Despite this, frontline communities haven’t given up - and neither will we [[link removed]] . The fight for a livable future is more important than ever, and solutions are popular and possible. Here are ten ways to join the fight.
Join Now [[link removed]]
“Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground."
- Sara Ahmed, writer and scholar of feminist theory [[link removed]]
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READ/ WATCH/ LISTEN
FACT SHEET: Weapons for a Warming World: U.S. Contributions to the Green Climate Fund vs. Foreign Military Financing [[link removed]]
National Priorities Project
After COP29, Ten Ways to Get Involved for Global Climate Justice [[link removed]]
Hanna Homestead, National Priorities Project Blog
Take 7: The Pentagon Fails Another Audit [[link removed]]
Lindsay Koshgarian, National Priorities Project Blog
Young People Aren't Joining the Military - Sky-High Military Spending Is to Blame [[link removed]]
Lindsay Koshgarian, InsideSources
Fascism Feeds Off Despair. We Refuse. [[link removed]]
Tope Folarin, Institute for Policy Studies
Post-Election Organizing to End the Gaza Genocide [[link removed]] featuring IPS New Internationalism’s Khury Petersen-Smith for YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali
How does Elon Musk define 'efficiency'? We asked his former employees [[link removed]]
Chris Stokel-Walker, Fast Company
Pentagon Fails Seventh Straight Audit as Annual US Military Budget Nears $1 Trillion [[link removed]]
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
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