In fiscal year 2015, Pentagon and related spending will total $598 billion, accounting for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending. That's roughly the size of the next seven largest military budgets around the world, combined.
Yesterday, two anti-immigrant amendments that would have extended the legacy of the draconian Trump-era immigration policy, Title 42, each took the Senate floor for a vote. Both failed.
Can you imagine the audacity to fail a multi-trillion dollar audit of public funds, and then ask for even more of those taxpayer dollars?
“This budget deal is shameful. It perpetuates the status quo, where domestic priorities never get equal footing with military spending. It’s unconscionable to keep throwing more money at Pentagon contractors when so many in this country are struggling needlessly,” said Lindsay Koshgarian, Program Director for the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Climate change represents arguably the biggest threat to U.S. national security - and human security - of the 21st century. Decades of inaction have led to worsening and more frequent extreme weather events, with associated loss of life and property. And yet in Washington, “national security” is still primarily synonymous with military approaches to geopolitical challenges.