$29.4 billion.

That’s how much extra Pentagon spending Senate Republicans snuck into the pathetic coronavirus relief proposal they spat up before going on recess for the entire month of August (as if the virus is taking a break).

This is on top of the $740.5 billion military budget Congress approved just a week earlier.

Oh, and some of the additional money would replenish funding the White House chose to use for Trump’s racist, stupid border wall.

Even though we see big numbers like these all the time, they can be somewhat unrelatable. So let’s break it down:

• Lucy makes the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (yes, it’s still that low).

• She works 40 hours a week and never misses a day.

• She works 52 weeks a year and never takes a vacation.

• It would take her 1,949,602 years to make $29.4 billion.

• That’s roughly ten times longer than human beings have existed.

For months, Trump loyalists in the Senate — under the so-called leadership of Mitch McConnell — stonewalled any progress on another relief package as the coronavirus raged throughout America.

When Mitch and his gang at last put forth their feeble plan in the waning hours of July, it was too late to preserve federal unemployment assistance and eviction moratoriums that were keeping millions of Americans afloat.

And there was no time to negotiate with Democrats — who had passed a relatively comprehensive bill in the House way back in May — before the August congressional recess.

Some data points:

• The United States spends more on the military than the next nine highest-spending countries combined.

• The Pentagon budget has gone up more than $120 billion since Trump took office.

• For every $1,000 we give the Pentagon, the CDC gets only one dollar to target new infectious diseases like COVID-19.

• $29.4 billion — which, again, is above and beyond the $740.5 billion the Pentagon was already going to get — is enough to eradicate hunger in America. Or homelessness. (At least that’s where the numbers were before the pandemic).

Here we are, utterly unprepared for one of the gravest threats our nation has ever faced — a threat we can’t defeat with machine guns, tanks, jet fighters, or nuclear warheads.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and the rest of them want to fork over even more money to the Pentagon?

Tell Congress:

No increased Pentagon funding in any coronavirus relief legislation, period.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

In unity,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. Public Citizen — like many nonprofits and other small businesses — is feeling the financial strain of the coronavirus emergency. If you can, please consider donating to support the critical work we’re doing together. Thank you.
 
 
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