Dear John,

The onslaught continues: on Monday night, news broke that President Trump would seek a $1 trillion military budget. The president announced the news, saying, “$1 trillion, and nobody’s seen anything like it.”

The news follows the President’s accelerated bombing campaign in Yemen, insistence on taking over Greenland, and the collapse of the brief ceasefire in Gaza.

Of course they want a $1 trillion military budget.

That’s just one part of the bigger picture. As Reverend William Barber and IPS Executive Director Tope Folarin write in Newsweek, they are taking healthcare and food from the poor and cutting federal programs to give tax cuts to billionaires and build up their war and mass deportation machine - all to consolidate power for themselves.

And so, we’ve never needed movement power more than we do now. Thankfully, the “Hands Off” protests that took over cities and towns on Saturday, April 5 were a sorely needed reminder that we the people are still powerful, even when authoritarianism is growing.

Days earlier, on April 2, faith leaders led by Rev. William Barber gathered at the Supreme Court for a “Moral Witness Wednesday” challenging an “immoral budget proposal that is an attack on poor & low-wage people.” Faith leaders went in armed with the truth, courtesy of a report co-authored by us at NPP.

And it followed a March 5 rally and march to the U.S. Capitol by faith leaders, who delivered our joint report, “The High Moral Stakes of the Policy Battles Raging in Washington,” to congressional leaders.

The report exposes an immoral budget that seeks to take healthcare, food and services away from struggling people to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, war, and the president’s mass deportation agenda.

If we are going to stop the climb to war and authoritarianism and a society of, by, and for billionaires and war profiteers, these acts of people power are the way we will do it.

Here’s to many marches to come.

In solidarity,

Lindsay, Alliyah, Aspen, and Hanna

P.S. - We are days away from the launch of our new tax receipt! Stay tuned to see our take on whether DOGE’s cuts could save the average taxpayer the price of a dozen eggs.

TRADEOFF: WARS AND FAMILY SEPARATION VS. EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND HOUSING

This weekend, the Senate doubled down on their plans to add $345 billion in new militarized spending over the next four years with a vote that paves the way for their budget priorities.

Between the House and Senate, GOP proposals would cut programs for the poor - $880 billion from Medicaid and $230 billion from food assistance - to benefit wealthy corporations and individuals and to propel more wars and family separation. The Senate plan hands the Pentagon and immigration enforcement an $86 billion annual boost - when we could use this money instead for early childhood education, affordable health insurance, AND public housing for families.

Our recent report with Repairers of the Breach and Economic Policy Institute dives deep into the big budget resolution fight steered by the Trump administration and Congress.

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MORE MONEY FOR PENTAGON, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, AND MASS DEPORTATIONS

After threats of a government shutdown in mid-March, President Trump signed the GOP budget into law to fund the government through the end of the current fiscal year. The budget cuts $13 billion from domestic spending and boosts spending on weapons and mass deportation over FY 2024 levels:

$621 million increase for mass detention and deportations
$185 million cut for nuclear nonproliferation to boost nuclear weapons
$6 billion overall increase for the Pentagon

This is even before the $86 billion per year in new Pentagon and mass deportation spending the Senate just advanced, which would likely be implemented for 2026. This budget is a step in the wrong direction - there are no militarized solutions to the challenges plaguing American communities.

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Photo courtesy of Tim Wright

JUSTICE PREVAILS: A GRASSROOTS VICTORY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROLIFERATION

A grassroots collaborative spanning four states reached a historic settlement with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to delay the opening of new nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities. The settlement requires transparency and accountability in the production of plutonium pits - a component central to all nuclear weaponry - at sites in New Mexico and South Carolina.

The settlement also requires the NNSA to complete a nationwide environmental impact statement covering the potential social and ecological impacts of the planned operation: from the shipping of plutonium in trucks on highways across the country, to the production and storage of nuclear materials, to the clean-up and disposal of radioactive waste.

This hard-fought win offers us a pivotal moment to mobilize for the fulfillment of human needs and protection of all life - over the expansion of nuclear arms. Take action and support the fight!

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Photos courtesy of Aspen Coriz-Romero

“We want to show how great and powerful we are by funding a war machine rather than pouring resources into our children and the most vulnerable. God-like billionaires and multinational corporations receive trillions of dollars in tax cuts while slashing public services and jobs. As a person of faith I recognize this moment is our time in the wilderness. We are being tested with false pride, false glory and wealth, and false religion.”

– Rev. Stephen Tickner, senior minister at Central Christian Church