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Dear John,
The newly passed Republican budget will cause completely unnecessary human suffering on a massive scale.
As we showed with our Institute for Policy Studies colleagues, the budget will result in millions of people losing their health insurance, and millions more losing food stamps [[link removed]] . And it will cut off those lifelines for the poorest among us while making the richest Americans even richer. [[link removed]]
But the budget also injects more than $300 billion in new spending [[link removed]] on the Pentagon and Republican plans to amp up their cruel and dystopian attacks on immigrants [[link removed]] . That includes:
* $25 billion for Trump’s Golden Dome , a doomed-to-fail missile defense system that will cost untold billions more if the program isn’t ended;
* $14 billion for autonomous and AI-driven weapons or “killer drones” that will spell new nightmares for civilians in war zones;
* $45 billion for new immigrant detention centers , nearly tripling ICE’s annual detention budget, plus $29.9 billion for ICE’s operations, a threefold increase ;
* $46.6 billion for border wall construction;
* $3.3 billion for the Pentagon to back up Trump’s deportations and border militarization.
That money represents more foreign conflicts, more gratuitous bombing of other nations and their civilian populations, more immigrant neighbors kidnapped and separated from their families and communities.
Our earlier analysis [[link removed]] of the House version of the bill, which was nearly identical to the final version on these particular items, found that the new spending on the Pentagon and mass deportation agenda would have been enough on an annual basis to cover the millions of people at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage and food stamps.
The Republican budget passed by the narrowest of margins. But laws can be made and unmade, and this conversation has only just begun. As our ally Bishop William Barber II said at his rally at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, “You will not kill us or our people without a fight.”
In solidarity,
Alliyah, Hanna, Kumail, Lindsay, and Olabisi
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TRADEOFF: WAR AND DEPORTATIONS VS. HEALTHCARE AND FOOD STAMPS
The priorities of this Trump and Republican budget bill couldn't be clearer: for the first year alone, in FY2026, the Pentagon and mass detention and deportations will receive a whopping $167 billion . This translates to more money to fuel more wars, fuller pockets for billionaires, Pentagon contractors, and ICE contractors, and millions of families kidnapped and separated. This also means that massive plus-ups for militarized spending will directly take away health insurance and food assistance from tens of millions of families [[link removed]] in need. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Learn more about what's at stake in your state [[link removed]] .
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Photo courtesy of US Army Cadet Command [[link removed]]
TRUMP'S MILITARISM IS AN EMISSIONS CATASTROPHE
The U.S. Army parade held on June 14 (Trump’s 79th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Army) was a perfect symbol of unfettered militarism in Trump’s presidency - and of his willingness to stoke climate change.
Trump’s militarism was on flamboyant display in June: aside from the parade, there was his deployment of troops to Los Angeles to squash protests against ICE, and his decision to bomb nuclear sites in Iran despite ongoing nuclear deal negotiations.
These are the acts of an unaccountable despot - one who has also recently conducted a blatant assault on climate programs, including the termination of over 100 climate and clean energy studies [[link removed]] , while calling for the elimination of NOAA’s climate research. [[link removed]]
And lest we forget that militarism is a driver of climate change, according to an analysis we helped produce for The Guardian [[link removed]] , Trump’s birthday parade produced 2 million kilograms of global warming pollution, the equivalent of producing 67 million plastic bags or powering 300 homes annually.
Read More [[link removed]]
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"YOU WILL NOT KILL US OR OUR PEOPLE WITHOUT A FIGHT."
The Republican budget is going to harm real people - but we won’t go down without a fight.
That was the message of Bishop William Barber II and his organization, Repairers of the Breach, at their “Moral Monday” rally and protest at the U.S. Capitol [[link removed]] . The rally featured people who stand to lose the lifelines that are Medicaid and food stamps.
Chris Shumake from North Carolina was one of those people. “I just finished high school and I’m doing auto technician systems training in August. I’m relying on Medicaid and SNAP to help me continue my schooling. If I don’t have it, I’d have to go to school and worry about not being able to eat that day…”
We helped produce a report and series of updates [[link removed]] for the rally on the devastation the GOP budget would cause.
After the rally, clergy went inside the capitol building and were arrested for praying inside. [[link removed]]
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“We’re here for life. Healthcare is life. Standing against war and violence is life. Fully funding public education is life. Living wages is life.
You will not kill us or our people without a fight.”
– Bishop William Barber II on June 30, 2025 at Moral Mondays in D.C. [[link removed]]
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READ/ WATCH/ LISTEN
Trump’s ‘gas-guzzling’ parade will produce planet-heating pollution costs, analysis says [[link removed]]
Dharna Noor, The Guardian
The US Bombing of Iran—How Nonprofits and Civil Society Must Respond [[link removed]]
Phyllis Bennis, Nonprofit Quarterly
Immigrants Are a Boon to Society [[link removed]]
Sonali Kolhatkar, OtherWords
Trump’s Budget Will Devastate Health Care for Rural Families Like Mine [[link removed]]
Ta'Kyla Bates, OtherWords
WATCH: The DOGE Double Standard: Billions for Bombs, Pennies for the People [[link removed]] feat. Lindsay Koshgarian
Congressional Progressive Caucus Center
LISTEN: The $1 trillion defense budget [[link removed]] feat. Lindsay Koshgarian
Willis Ryder Arnold and Meghna Chakrabarti, WBUR: On Point
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