Sign petition: Dems, don't increase wasteful military budget

Petition to House and Senate Democrats: "Do not put war profiteers ahead of our local communities. Reduce the budget for the military and oppose any further cuts in spending on domestic priorities." Add your name: House Democrats recently abandoned plans to release a budget proposal after the caucus could not reach an agreement. Corporate Democrats wanted to increase military spending and cut domestic priorities in the process. But progressives held strong and demanded no more damaging cuts. More than half of the federal budget goes to military spending, much of which is wasteful and unnecessary. But corporate Democrats in the House of Representatives want to spend even more.1  We need to stand with progressives and demand that Democrats reduce America's out-of-control military spending. Tell Democrats: Cut military spending. Click here to sign the petition. Democrats must get out from under the thumb of war profiteers and cut at least $200 billion from wasteful military spending. House Democrats are seeking to end years of right-wing austerity. But the corporate wing of the party only wants to end austerity for the military – making even worse cuts to education, transportation, health care, safety and more in the process. That is unacceptable. We will be less safe. More than 120 generals wrote a letter opposing Trump's cuts to the State Department and international aid that would make future wars and conflict more likely. As Trump’s former Secretary of Defense James Mattis once argued, “if you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.”2 Americans disapprove. A recent poll found that 58% of Americans oppose the Trump plan to increase wasteful military spending. Democrats afraid of their own shadows must realize that redirecting some military spending to higher priorities is a political winner.3 Helps war profiteers, not everyday Americans. Some military families need food stamps to survive. American children face crowded, crumbling schools. Our infrastructure is falling apart. Flint still does not have safe water, and Puerto Rico is still struggling to rebuild. Meanwhile, under the influence of war profiteer lobbyists, Congress repeatedly funds weapon systems that even the military says it does not want.4,5 Some Democrats face the temptation to increase military spending and slash domestic funding in order to show their friends at Washington cocktail parties that they are “serious.” Doing so would leave Democrats complicit in making America sicker, poorer, less prosperous and less educated. We need to declare in no uncertain terms that Democrats must reduce military spending, not increase it. Tell Democrats: Cut military spending. Click here to sign the petition. We do not have a spending problem. We have a wasteful military spending problem. The United States spends more on the military than the next seven countries combined, while priorities that make America safer and more prosperous – like education, health, transportation, housing, veterans’ benefits, diplomacy and dozens of others – must compete for the remaining scraps. Safety net programs like Social Security have their own sources of funding and can be shored up for decades with small fixes and no benefit cuts. The majority of the rest of the budget, so called "discretionary spending," goes to the military. Redirecting war-profiteer handouts to investments that make us safer and more prosperous long term is both common sense and has popular support. Democrats cannot offer a true alternative to Trump if they endorse more wasteful military spending. It’s up to us to drive that point home before it is too late. Tell Democrats: Cut military spending. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/democrats-budget-military-spending?t=10&akid=32673%2E3130208%2ExeUNCS - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan, "House Dems cancel vote on budget plan amid internal revolt," POLITICO, April 9, 2019. Alex Morash and Craig Harrington, “Economists And Experts Hammer Trump's Plan To Increase Military Spending At Expense Of Nearly Everything Else,” Media Matters, Feb. 28, 2017. Curt Mills, “Poll: Americans Oppose Defense Budget Increases,” U.S. News & World Report, March 8, 2017. Krissy Clark, “Military families turn to food stamps,” Marketplace, May 25, 2015. William Hartung, “Why Can't We Rein In This Ridiculous Military Spending?” Mother Jones, Oct. 30, 2016. More Information: US Military Budget, Its Components, Challenges, and Growth: Why Military Spending Is More Than You Think It Is - The Balance

Tell Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis: Stop deploying U.S. troops to the border to threaten asylum seekers

Donald Trump is using the military to promote his racism and threaten migrant families.

The petition to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis reads: "Cancel the deployment of troops heading to the United States-Mexico border." Add your name:

President Trump wants to manufacture a crisis out of a caravan of vulnerable asylum seekers 1,000 miles from the border.1 His goal is to incite right-wing fear and hatred before next week's midterm elections. By sending thousands of troops armed with lethal ammunition to the border, Secretary Mattis is putting migrant families and other vulnerable communities at risk for Trump's political gain.2 Asylum seekers are not a threat to the United States. Trump’s hatred and rising authoritarianism are the real emergency. We must call on Secretary Mattis to end his complicity with Trump's racist agenda now. Tell Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis: Cancel the deployment of troops to the border. Click here to sign the petition. Let’s be clear: The United States is not under attack. The families walking from Central America are survivors of deadly state and domestic violence, climate devastation and poverty.3 They are coming to exercise their right under U.S. law to petition for asylum. But instead of fulfilling his legal obligation to evaluate their asylum claims,4 Trump plans to terrorize migrants with military force. His dangerous ploy is part of a white supremacist agenda that includes banning Muslims, restricting legal immigration, separating children from their families and denying citizenship to children of immigrants born in the United States.5 Escalating the war on migrants is beyond dangerous – especially after a tragic week of white supremacist violence and hate. Jewish elders murdered at synagogue. Black elders murdered at a supermarket. Bombs mailed to Trump's political opponents. It is deplorable that instead of denouncing the white supremacy that fuels these hateful acts, Trump is stoking more fear and violence against migrants. Further militarizing the border will do nothing to keep our country safe. But it will terrorize and harm vulnerable migrant families and add fuel to the fires of racism and xenophobia. That's why we are joining with our friends at Win Without War to speak up and prevent Secretary Mattis from enabling Trump’s desperate, dangerous fear-mongering now. Tell Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis: Cancel the deployment of troops to the border. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mattis-border?t=7&akid=30527%2E3130208%2EQXPDt5 - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: John Cassidy, "Donald Trump Launches Operation Midterms Diversion," The New Yorker, Oct. 30, 2018. Ted Hesson and Wesley Morgan, "Trump’s troop deployment to the border comes under fire," POLITICO, Oct. 29, 2018. Washington Office on Latin America, "9 Questions (and Answers) About the Central American Migrant Caravan," Oct. 22, 2018. Maya Rhodan, "President Trump Threatened to Turn Back Caravan Migrants If They Don't Claim Asylum in Mexico. That's Not Legal," TIME, Oct. 23, 2018. William Cummings and David Jackson, "President Trump says he plans to end birthright citizenship with an executive order," USA Today, Oct. 30, 2018.