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Dear John,
Donald Trump has suggested a $1.5 trillion war budget. [[link removed]] And key Republicans in Congress [[link removed]] have endorsed the idea. The war budget has just passed $1 trillion for the first time since World War II. [[link removed]]
Handing over that kind of money to a president who just invaded a sovereign country without any direct threat should be unthinkable. The invasion of Venezuela is a moral and legal outrage. [[link removed]]
The president cited “ dangerous times [[link removed]] ” in calling for a newly flush war budget, but he himself is the most dangerous thing about these times.
This is a president who has endangered his own people by sending military troops [[link removed]] to peaceful U.S. cities, and targeting immigrants [[link removed]] and citizens [[link removed]] alike with a violent and unaccountable militant force.
This is a president who invaded a sovereign nation that posed no direct threat to the United States, and then mentioned oil 23 times [[link removed]] in his post-invasion press conference.
And this is the president who said just last week, [[link removed]] “We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”
We’ve consistently looked at the costs of these outrages, from the stationing of troops in U.S. cities to Hanna Homestead and Lindsay Koshgarian’s look at the costs of the invasion of Venezuela. [[link removed]] As Lindsay Koshgarian writes elsewhere, it’s even worse that nearly half of Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities [[link removed]] while the war machine rages on.
And as Alliyah Lusuegro writes, we stand with Americans [[link removed]] who aren’t about to let this president get his hands on $1.5 trillion to continue his rampage.
In solidarity,
Alliyah, Hanna and Lindsay
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TRADEOFF: ICE VIOLENCE VS. HEALTHCARE
ICE out for good. In the wake of the murders of Keith Porter [[link removed]] and Renee Nicole Good, [[link removed]] ICE is continuing to harm our communities and separate families. We can’t afford another life lost to ICE violence.
Trump’s Big Bad Bill passed in July 2025 has made it possible to ramp up ICE operations. The $29.85 billion boost for ICE [[link removed]] is nearly triple the amount of its budget the previous year. We found that if Trump’s deportation force were a military, it would be the 13th highest-funded in the world. [[link removed]]
Meanwhile, healthcare affordability is often on the chopping block for millions of Americans. The additional funding for ICE could provide healthcare for 1.3 million Americans for all four years of Trump’s term.
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Art courtesy of Nonviolent Medicaid Army [[link removed]]
DON'T GIVE THE PENTAGON $1.5 TRILLION FOR WAR
On the heels of an immoral and illegal invasion of a sovereign country, Donald Trump has suggested Congress give him a $1.5 trillion war budget. [[link removed]] And key Republicans in Congress [[link removed]] have endorsed the idea. The war budget has just passed $1 trillion for the first time since World War II. [[link removed]]
That’s a huge amount of money for the American people - enough to fully fund Medicaid, food stamps, the Child Tax Credit, and eight other critical federal programs, from the National Institutes of Health to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Shutterstock
THOUSANDS ACROSS THE NATION SAY: "NO ICE!" AND "NO WAR!"
On January 10 and 11, 2026, thousands gathered in Minneapolis and nationwide [[link removed]] to protest the horrifying murders of people at the hands of ICE. In just a matter of days, a broad national coalition made up of civil rights and immigrant rights groups mobilized at least 1,000 events that filled major cities from Seattle to Chicago. The momentum carried on when thousands more marched [[link removed]] in New York City and other places, linking calls of “ICE Out For Good!” with “No War!”
Along with the masses, more than 500 advocacy groups are speaking up [[link removed]] and polls reflect growing opposition to ICE [[link removed]] and Trump’s military strikes on Venezuela. [[link removed]]
Read More [[link removed]]
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963
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READ/ WATCH/ LISTEN
Congress Must Stop This War and Help Working Americans Instead [[link removed]]
Lindsay Koshgarian, OtherWords
Venezuela and the Trump Administration’s “Hemisphere First” Agenda [[link removed]]
Omar Ocampo, Foreign Policy in Focus
Big Oil’s Big Win in Venezuela [[link removed]]
Basav Sen, Inside Sources
Hawai‘i Has a Rare Opportunity to Reclaim Land From the US Military [[link removed]]
Christine Ahn & Davis Price , Truthout
Pentagon Fails 8th Audit in a Row as Congress Grants It $1 Trillion Budget [[link removed]]
Sharon Zhang, Truthout
LISTEN: WORT interview [[link removed]] with National Priorities Project ’s Alliyah Lusuegro, explaining U.S. overspending on the Pentagon budget in contrast to underinvesting in climate solutions (start at 33:00)
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National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
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