$753 BILLION PENTAGON BUDGET For New Wars!
At an eye-popping $753 BILLION, President Biden’s just-released FY2022 Pentagon budget is an increase on even Trump’s highest levels. Here are just five (of many) examples of gross misspending at the Pentagon and ideas for how to reinvest that money to actually help our communities.
- $1.727 trillion spent on a faulty fighter jet is enough for 20 million public housing units for a decade.
- $1.7 trillion for nuclear weapons over the course of 30 years could pay for 700,000 clean energy jobs for the same period.
- $125 billion in past bureaucratic waste could have bought 3.2 billion Covid-19 vaccines. (Don’t forget that the Pentagon has never passed an audit!)
- The top 5 weapons contractors raked in $150 billion in Pentagon contracts in 2020. That could have meant 10 years of wind power for 25 million households.
- Just one-third of the $204.6 billion in U.S. security assistance from 2006-2016 (an amount that likely went to human rights abusers), would have paid for the healthcare of 1.9 million low-income adults for the same period.
These are the trade-offs made in our names every year. From these egregious cases of waste, one thing is clear: we’ve got to end the greedy corruption at the core of Pentagon budgets.
And it starts with Congress using its power of the purse to end irresponsible war and weapons spending by rejecting President Biden’s proposed Pentagon budget.
Let’s make something clear: even if it wasn’t buying faulty airplanes, failing audits, or building unnecessary new nukes, the Pentagon would still have far too much money.
That’s because the problem isn’t simply “waste” — it’s a vast, overpowered global military empire. Cutting the Pentagon budget down to size will require more than just ending wasteful spending; it will require ending endless war, closing many of the 800+ military bases around the globe, and addressing the consequences of U.S. militarism and imperialism.
Because here’s what we know: Continuing to throw money at the war machine means we neglect addressing real security challenges like global health, climate change, and mass inequality. It’s a recipe for disaster and it’s time for a change.
President Biden’s budget dropped on Friday. Can you help make sure every Hill inbox is filled with letters when staff get back to their offices next week?
Take a moment to pause and imagine what the world would look like if our top spending priority wasn’t war.
We believe that world is possible. And while there is still a long way to go, we’re seeing the results of people-powered wins at every turn — that includes an ever-growing coalition in Congress ready and willing to take unprecedented action to cut the Pentagon budget.
It’s grown because of the work we’ve done together, Patty Brey. Because nothing is more powerful than activists (like yourself) pushing Congress to hear and address the needs of the PEOPLE.
Thank you for working for peace,
Faith, Amisha, Michael, and the Win Without War team
P.S. Interested in the numbers and statistics behind the trade-offs listed above? Get the full details and more on our website at “Throwing Money at the War Machine: 5 Cases of Pentagon Waste”.
