Carrying(a(Message(to(Congress:(!

Curb(Military(Spending(
Mary(Ann(McGivern,(Board(Member,(Peace(Economy(Project(
!
In!recent!years!the!Peace!Economy!Project!(PEP)!in!St.!Louis!has!been!sending!
annual!delegations!to!Washington,!DC,!to!call!for!reductions!in!the!military!budget!
and!increases!in!a!variety!of!domestic!programs.!!
!
PEP!tracks!local!military!manufacturing!at!Boeing!and!smaller!firms!to!make!the!
case!that!it!is!wrong!to!make!weapons!because!"we!need!the!jobs."!Similarly,!we!
argue!that!reducing!local!military!base!size,!if!the!Pentagon!doesnt!need!the!
capacity,!opens!local!economic!opportunities.!!
!
Heres!the!letter!our!three!board!and!staff!members!are!carrying!this!year.!
!
Save our Nation
Reduce Military Spending
Dear <<We will enter your congresspersons names here>>,

The continued increase in Pentagon spending is unacceptable to us at the Peace

Economy Project. For years we have seen a trend towards endless wars with blank
checks signed off by Congress, the extra waste seeping into our streets. The 2016
proposal for the Pentagon budget is the largest ever, with even more money piled on top
of that in the Overseas Contingency Operations budget.
We are appalled that Congress would rather funnel money into weapons of war than
maintain safety nets that have been allowed to crumble away leaving our most vulnerable
in free fall. We at the Peace Economy Project and those of us signing on in support see
many areas where the Pentagon could responsibly make cut backs.
Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)
The OCO is essentially extra money given to the Pentagon above and beyond its base
budget amount (proposed for $523 billion for 2016). This fund is designed to pay for the
extra costs of war with little to no oversight in how its spent. The fund keeps growing too,
helping the Pentagon avoid sequester. Currently as proposed, the OCO would have the
second largest budget, just after the Pentagon base budget. Its time we eliminated the
OCO and had a real debate on the Pentagon budget.
Weapons Procurement
The enumerations of problems associated with the F-35 are starting to sound like a
broken record, but that hasnt stopped Congress from funding it. By all accounts, the
plane is a complete failure. It has major design flaws and has had issues with everything
from the engines exploding on takeoff to flying at night. Years behind schedule and
behind budget, this program is costing U.S. taxpayers $1.5 trillion.
Nuclear Weapons
Were out of the Cold War, and know better than to assume nuclear weapons do anything
but make the world less safe. Its time to let programs like the B61 nuclear bomb go. This
bomb serves no strategic military purpose, and at $28.9 million a bomb, theres a lot
more we could do with that money than create an unnecessary weapon. Its time to shed
the Cold War mentality once and for all and get the U.S. out of the past and up to date
with the times.
Its time we took a critical look at the Pentagon budget and built something that truly
functions instead just throwing money at failing programs. Its also time we took care of
our people here at home. A country is only as strong as its lowest citizen, and we have a
lot of work to do.
Signed, Members and Friends of the Peace Economy Project
!
There!is!certainly!more!that!we!could!say.!We!dont!mention!base!closings!or!
weapons!in!space!that,!if!used,!would!create!a!debris!field!rendering!satellites!and!
space!launches!impossible.!We!dont!mention!the!strategic!uselessness!of!new!
aircraft!carriers!and!fighter!planes.!We!dont!mention!our!careless!distribution!of!

arms!throughout!the!world.!I!could!go!on!but!you,!dear!reader,!doubtless!have!your!
own!list.!
!
The!point!is!that!PEP!carries!the!case!to!Congress!every!year.!The!delegation!meets!
with!a!few!members!and!a!lot!of!their!staff.!We!know!that!we!are!one!visit!in!the!
course!of!the!year,!a!drop!in!the!bucket.!But!we!are!citizens,!not!professional!
lobbyists.!We!are!carrying!the!signatures!of!constituents.!We!bothered!to!come!
because!we!know!that!these!elements!of!the!Pentagon!budget,!obscure!to!the!
general!public,!are!not!just!wasteful!but!actively!destructive!of!our!way!of!life,!even!
if!they!are!never!used.!So!perhaps!instead!of!being!a!drop!in!the!bucket,!we!are!the!
water!that!wears!away!the!stone.!
!
Finally,!the!delegation!returns!home!to!St.!Louis!changed.!Not!very!many!people!go!
to!Washington!to!carry!a!message!they!fervently!believe!in.!Some!people!in!D.C.!
ignore!the!message!but!others!welcome!it!!and!welcome!the!messengers.!The!
delegates!engage!in!discussion!with!knowledgeable!staffers!and!learn!about!the!
markNup!process,!prospects!for!cuts!in!one!or!another!program,!committee!chair!
disgust!with!cost!overruns,!and!so!on.!Its!an!education.!
!
If!you!would!like!to!sign!PEPs!letter!and!have!your!signature!delivered!to!your!
senators!and!representative,!visit!our!website!and!select!sign!on.!We!have!no!
chance!of!making!a!difference!if!we!dont!speak!up.!