President Biden proposed a Pentagon budget increase larger than the entire discretionary budget of the CDC.

With his Pentagon budget proposal last week, President Biden made clear his intention to continue in the footsteps of President Trump. The proposal called for an increase in Pentagon and war spending from $740 billion fiscal year 2021 to $753 billion in fiscal year 2022. 

Progressives have called for an immediate ten percent Pentagon spending reduction, to be followed by greater reductions. That would take spending closer to where it was under President Obama. We'll soon find out whether President Biden will stick with the Trump increases, build on them, or begin to tear them down.

We’ve had 18 years to learn that the costs of war are just too high. We must end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the next time our leaders inevitably argue for the necessity of war, it’s up to us to resist.  

It’s time for a different foreign policy that respects the rule of law, respects the sovereignty of other nations, and respects human life in all nations.

The first days of the Biden administration brought a deeply welcome spate of reversals of Trump policies, ranging from the reversal of the racist Muslim immigration ban to the nixing of the Keystone XL pipeline. But on one huge front, the Biden administration has yet to signal any major breaks from Trump’s legacy: the vast overreach of the Pentagon.

As long as violence is the primary policy solution, white supremacy will keep its grip on our nation and world.

With military spending at historically high levels, and with additional increases under President Trump, a 10% cut is an overdue correction to the bloated Pentagon budget. Here's how we could spend that $74 billion instead.

Tanks and ships can’t save us from our greatest dangers, so let’s pay for the things that can.

U.S. budgets are characterized by a prioritization of militarization over human life and needs. It's time to defund.