Following the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's release of their annual report on Global Military Expenditures, peace organizations, faith groups, and social justice advocates call to cut military spending in the United States and re-invest the savings in life-affirming programs.
Today, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released their annual report on Global Military Expenditures, which exceeded $1.98 trillion in 2020. While comprising less than 5 percent of the global population, the United States’ share of military expenditures made up 39% of global spending.
CODEPINK joined 37 peace, faith-based, and social justice organizations calling on the U.S. government to reduce military spending and invest in our local communities.
The statement emphasized, “In 2020, our nation faced crises ranging from a pandemic to disastrous wildfires, evidencing the urgent need for investment in public health and climate change instead of F-35 warplanes and new nuclear weapons. The misallocation of our resources into militarized spending has weakened our nation’s ability to respond to the things that affect people’s day-to-day wellbeing.”
The report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute comes after President Biden released his request for a $753 billion Pentagon budget and as Congress begins deliberation around the Pentagon budget for Fiscal Year 2022.
CODEPINK and the organizations call on members of Congress to reject the outrageous proposal and instead "significantly decrease spending on the military and nuclear weapons for FY2022 and to re-allocate that money into true national priorities like public health, diplomacy, infrastructure, and addressing climate change.”
CODEPINK Co-Director and Divest from War campaign director Carley Towne said "We know that spending $753 billion on the Pentagon budget won’t make us safer-- especially when over half of that pads "defense" contractors' bottom lines." She added "Reducing the Pentagon budget is an issue that cuts across movements for social change. As we grapple with real threat of climate change and our government's inadequate response to COVID-19, we can send a strong message that we won’t accept the failed strategy of allocating three quarters of a trillion dollars every year to the Pentagon.
The full statement can be found here.
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