The American Friends Service Committee, using figures from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), estimates that the United States spent $1.98 million on the military every minute during 2009.
https://www.oneminuteforpeace.org/budget
What can you do about it? Help get Barbara Lee's Bill H.R. 6045, and Pete Stark's budget amendment passed.
https://www.stark.house.gov/index.ph...2153&Itemid=62
WASHINGTON – Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, today released the following statement on the President's proposed budget:
"The President today outlined a tough budget. I wouldn't have made all of the same choices. For example, I think we can get more savings out of defense rather than cutting vital programs that working Americans depend on, like energy assistance for poor families and grants to localities to help bring communities out of poverty. But, I commend the President for trying to balance the opposing interests of reducing our deficit and continuing to meet people's needs.
Capital Switchboard: (202) 224 -3121.
1. Ask for your representative.
2. Identify yourself as a constituent.
3. I am calling from (your hometown) and I'm asking Congressman/ woman (their
last name) to vote in support of Rep. Pete Stark's amendment, number 141, to the
2011 spending bill being considered this week. Stark's amendment would restrain
excessive military spending and help us address the budget by reducing military
spending to fiscal year 2008 levels.The bill as proposed increases military
spending by over 8 billion dollars while cutting the programs that most serve my
community. This backward approach will devastate our district.
Support A Responsible End to the War in Afghanistan...
Congresswoman Barbara Lee has championed the fight in Congress to shift away from a military-first strategy in Afghanistan and to reorient United States foreign policy to meet the threat of terrorism in a more effective and sustainable manner. She has backed legislation to require an exit strategy and timeline for withdrawal from Afghanistan, and most recently introduced a bill (H.R. 6045 in the 111th Congress) to end combat operations in Afghanistan and limit funding to the safe and orderly redeployment of all U.S. troops and military contractors.
https://lee.house.gov/index.cfm?sect...tree=38,75,296
https://lee.house.gov/uploads/LEE_027_xml.pdf
Barbara Lee Takes Afghanistan Issue to Democratic Party National Committee
by Tom Hayden
Rep. Barbara Lee is proposing that the Democratic National Committee officially commit itself to a policy of "prioritizing job creation and a swift withdrawal of U.S. armed forces and military contractors in Afghanistan which must include a significant and sizable reduction no later than July 2011."
The DNC will take up the resolution at its Feb. 24-26 meeting in Washington, D.C.
Lee's office is calling on all peace and justice advocates at state levels to contact their DNC representatives and urge them to support the resolution.
The resolution is a challenge to the military-contractor -hawk alliance pushing President Obama to make only token troop withdrawals beginning this July. Others within Democratic policy circles have proposed reductions of approximately 60,000 between this July and July 2012. The Lee resolution declares that the reduction should be "significant and sizeable" and aimed at "a swift withdrawal of U.S. armed forces and military contractors. "
President Obama has not made his decision known, making the DNC resolution debate timely. Lee, according to a recent statement, hopes to "change the President's political calculus" going into the 2012 election.