Resist Trump’s handout to war profiteers

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Half of the federal budget already goes to weapons of war and the military-industrial complex – and now, Trump wants to increase spending on war profiteers by a full 10 percent.¹

Yet in their statements opposing the Trump budget, neither Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi nor Sen. Chuck Schumer mentioned Trump’s proposal to radically expand military spending.^2,3

If Democratic leaders think they can resist Trump’s cuts without mentioning the source of the problem, they are badly wrong. To offer a true alternative to Trump, Democrats must get out from under the thumb of war profiteers and demand a cut to wasteful military spending.

Tell Democratic leaders: Resist Trump’s handout to war profiteers. Click here to sign the petition.

We do not have a spending problem. We have a wasteful military spending problem. Safety net programs like Social Security have their own sources of funding and can be shored up for decades with small fixes and no benefit cuts. The rest of the federal budget, so-called “discretionary” spending, is split between wasteful military spending and domestic priorities.⁴

Trump’s budget proposed increasing wasteful military spending by 10 percent, or $54 billion. Here’s why this is a horrible idea:

• We will be less safe. More than 120 generals wrote a letter opposing cuts to the State Department and international aid that would make future wars and conflict more likely. As Trump’s own Secretary of Defense James Mattis once argued, “if you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.”⁵
• Americans disapprove of it. A recent poll found that 58 percent of Americans oppose the Trump plan to increase wasteful military spending. Democrats afraid of their own shadows must realize that redirecting some military spending to higher priorities is a political winner.⁶
• Helps war profiteers, not everyday Americans. Some military families need food stamps to survive. American children face crowded, crumbling schools. Our infrastructure is falling apart. Meanwhile, under the influence of war profiteer lobbyists, Congress repeatedly funds weapon systems that even the military says it does not want.^7,8

Trump and his Republican backers are not serious about reducing wasteful spending, they are simply declaring war on the poor as an excuse to pass massive tax breaks for their wealthy campaign donors and corporate pals.

Tell Democratic leaders: Resist Trump’s handout to war profiteers. Click here to sign the petition.

The United States spends more on the military than the next seven countries combined, while priorities that make America safer and more prosperous – like education, health, transportation, housing, veterans’ benefits, diplomacy and dozens of others – must compete for the remaining scraps.⁹

Redirecting war-profiteer handouts to investments that make us safer and more prosperous long term is both common sense and has popular support. Democrats cannot offer a true alternative to Trump if they refuse to talk about wasteful military spending. It’s up to us to drive that point home before it is too late.

Tell Democratic leaders: Resist Trump’s handout to war profiteers. Click below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/trump_war_profiteers?t=7&akid=22176.11103932.QkAotF

Thank you for speaking out,

Murshed Zaheed, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

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1. Alex Morash and Craig Harrington, “Economists And Experts Hammer Trump’s Plan To Increase Military Spending At Expense Of Nearly Everything Else,” Media Matters, Feb. 28, 2017.
2. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, “Pelosi Statement on Trump 2018 Budget Blueprint,” Feb. 27, 2017.
3. Naomi Jugada, “Schumer: Trump budget would benefit wealthy over middle class,” The Hill, Feb. 27, 2017.
4. Charles Osterndorf, “Bernie Sanders is right—America spends too much money on its military,” The Daily Dot, Aug. 26, 2015.
5. Morash and Harrington, “Economists And Experts Hammer Trump’s Plan To Increase Military Spending At Expense Of Nearly Everything Else.”
6. Curt Mills, “Poll: Americans Oppose Defense Budget Increases,” U.S. News & World Report, March 8, 2017.
7. Krissy Clark, “Military families turn to food stamps,” Marketplace, May 25, 2015.
8. William Hartung, “Why Can’t We Rein In This Ridiculous Military Spending?” Mother Jones, Oct. 30, 2016.
9. Morash and Harrington, “Economists And Experts Hammer Trump’s Plan To Increase Military Spending At Expense Of Nearly Everything Else.”