Trump’s War Budget Faces Unprecedented Opposition
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Twelve Democrats on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee voted no on President Donald Trump’s $1.15 trillion Pentagon budget early Friday morning, signaling unprecedented opposition to an astonishing $600 billion increase over the previous year’s funding. Trump has proposed raising the Pentagon budget to at least $1.5 trillion by year’s end while slashing funding for human needs. Notably, all but two of the Democrats supported an amendment by U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) to cut Trump’s Pentagon budget by $150 billion.
Statement from Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen:
“Adopting Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget would establish a funding level that starves spending on health care, education, climate, infrastructure, and more for years and years. The substantial opposition in the House Armed Service Committee to the Trump budget – and the almost unanimous Democratic support for a $150 billion cut amendment – reflects that, thanks to public outcry, things are changing on Capitol Hill. Trump’s outrageous and immoral Pentagon budget proposal will not be enacted into law.”
Statement from Savannah Wooten, People Over Pentagon advocate for Public Citizen:
“The 12 members of Congress who voted no on Trump’s war budget took the commonsense, patriotic stance that a nation’s budget should invest in meeting human needs, not perpetuating violence or satisfying military contractors’ greed. A majority of the House already voted against Trump’s illegal war on Iran. Now Congress must reject Trump’s destructive Pentagon budget as well.
“Twelve committee members voting no breaks the Armed Services Committee’s tradition of bipartisan rubber-stamping of ever higher Pentagon budgets – signaling how galling a request for $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon truly is. An overwhelming majority of Americans oppose both the illegal war in Iran and uncontrolled spending on it. We should use our tax dollars to invest in our communities – not build Trump’s vanity warship, line military contractors’ pockets, and fight wars that nobody wants and needlessly drive up costs.”