President Biden has proposed a record $886 billion military budget for 2024. This budget  includes $170 billion for new bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic missile submarines; $30 billion for missile defense; $11 billion for hypersonic weapons and long range missiles; $13.5 billion for cyber activities, etc. – and this doesn’t even include $$$ to fund the war in Ukraine! Join us as we break down the military budget and explore opportunities to oppose these weapons systems.

In addition to examining the budget as a moral document, we will also learn about CODEPINK’s Ground the F-35 campaign and how the F-35 Coalition is building the anti-war movement as it plans for protests. CODEPINK will host Ground the F-35 actions in New York City, Chicago, Nova Scotia, Washington DC, Madison, Philadelphia, Burlington, the Bay Area, Massachusetts and Seattle to demand Congress defund the F-35 fighter jet, capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons.

Featuring

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host of Talk World Radio. He is Executive Director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. David’s books on war and peace include Leaving World War II Behind (an argument against the use of WWII as reason for more wars) and War Is A Lie (a catalog of the types of falsehoods regularly told about wars). David Swanson was awarded the 2018 Peace Prize by the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation. David Swanson is on the advisory boards of: Nobel Peace Prize Watch, Veterans For Peace, Assange Defense, BPUR, and Military Families Speak Out. 

Danaka Katovich is National Co-Director of CODEPINK, overseeing a myriad of issue campaigns, including the Ground the F-35 campaign. Danaka graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in political science in November 2020. Since 2018, Danaka has been working towards ending US participation in the war in Yemen. At CODEPINK, Danaka works on youth outreach as a facilitator of the organization’s Peace Collective, a cohort focused on anti-imperialist education and divestment.

Lindsay Koshgarian is the Program Director for the National Priorities Project. Lindsay's work and commentary on the federal budget and military spending has appeared on NPR, the BBC, CNN, The Nation, U.S. News and World Report, and others. At NPP, her work is at the intersection of military and domestic federal spending.

Take Action!

Instead of promoting a ceasefire and peace negotiations as Undersecretary of State, Victoria Nuland lights matches wherever she meddles, agitating for war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Ukraine. Join us in urging President Biden to fire Nuland and pursue a people-centered feminist foreign policy that employs diplomacy to bring this war to an end now.

Google Group & Local Leaders

Join our CODEPINK Congress Google Group, a space for sharing events and actions. Request to be added here!

Become a CODEPINK Congress liaison in your district to mobilize support for demilitarization and progressive foreign policy! Sign up here as a volunteer organizer.

P.S. Our co-founder Medea Benjamin is currently on a book tour to talk about her latest release, War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, co-authored with Nicolas Davies. If you are interested in bringing Medea to your community, in attending upcoming events in your area, or in ordering the book, click here for more info! 

Finally, if you missed our last meeting, you can view it here on YouTube. View the entire CODEPINK Congress archives here.

Onward toward peace and justice,
Medea, Marcy, Hanieh, Maha, and the entire CODEPINK team