$753 billion.

That’s how much the Biden administration has requested from Congress to fund the military in the coming year.

• For comparison, that’s almost three times the budget for the entire state of California (and no state budgets more than The Golden State year after year).

• Or — looking at states with smaller budgets — $753 billion is more than recent budgets of these 36 states combined: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

• Astoundingly, $753 billion is even more than the Pentagon got from Donald Trump last year.

Yet some politicians in Washington, D.C. — Republicans and Democrats — are trying to divert even more money to the Pentagon through infrastructure legislation in Congress.

As noted in a letter to congressional leadership from Public Citizen and dozens of other groups:

We are recovering from a year of record unemployment and housing insecurity, reeling from the loss of loved ones, staggering under the weight of multiplying medical and student loan debt, confronting systemic racism and violent white nationalism, and combating the ongoing climate crisis. Militarized spending has not solved these problems, and in many ways has made them worse. Every additional dollar allocated to the Pentagon is another dollar that is not being used to address these urgent challenges, and will not provide the relief our communities desperately need.

Tell Congress:

If there are unmet military infrastructure needs, the already bloated Pentagon budget is more than enough to address them. Not one dollar should be siphoned from bridges, clean water, broadband, child care, poverty reduction, health care, averting catastrophic climate change, or other acute needs just to stuff more money in the Pentagon’s overflowing coffers.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. We’re also busy undoing all the damage Trump did. And, like so many nonprofits and small businesses, we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic. If you can, please make an emergency donation today to support the critical work we’re doing together or even join our popular Monthly Giving program. Thank you.
 
 
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