It’s that time of year.

Our elected representatives in Washington, D.C., are deciding how much of our tax dollars to shovel into the gluttonous maw of the military-industrial complex.

President Biden asked Congress to approve $813 billion in military spending next year.

That itself is already $31 billion *more* than the Pentagon got this year.

Then, the House and Senate committees that oversee the Pentagon proposed still more on top of that (an additional $37 billion in the House; an additional $45 billion in the Senate).

Of course, members of those committees are heavily funded by the military-industrial complex.

In fact, as Public Citizen exposed in a recent report, “defense” contractors donated $10.2 million in the current election cycle to members of those committees.

And now — with a staggering $858 billion in potential military spending — those corporate behemoths stand to see $84,118 for every dollar they “invested” in campaign contributions to members of Congress who oversee the Pentagon’s budget.

This is lunacy.

Throwing more and more and more money at the Pentagon is not about supporting the troops, improving national security, making the world safer for democracy, or helping the people of Ukraine.

It is about members of Congress funneling as much of our tax dollars as they can to their corporate overlords at Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.

With the House about to vote on Pentagon policy and spending, two proposed amendments — introduced by Reps. Barbara Lee and and Mark Pocan — would bring some modest and much-needed sanity to our nation’s military spending:

1. One would claw back $100 billion in unneeded and wasteful spending from the Pentagon (which, let’s not forget, has never passed an audit). That money could then be redirected to help everyday Americans — including by feeding hungry children, investing in education, and addressing the climate crisis.

2. The other would reject the $37 billion increase from the House Armed Services Committee that is nothing more than a corrupt give-back to reward defense contractors for campaign contributions.

Tell Congress:

The Pentagon is getting more than enough money to carry out whatever legitimate missions it has. It is long past time to stop the cycle of blindly giving more and more taxpayer money to the already bloated military-industrial complex. Pass the Pentagon spending cut amendments.

Add your name now.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

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